The Foreign Ministers will meet on Friday 15 May, by videoconference, primarily to discuss the Middle East peace process.
The programme of the new Israeli government, which was due to be sworn in on Thursday 14 May in the evening, provides, inter alia, for the rapid annexation of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, in violation of international law (see EUROPE 12474/13).
On Tuesday 12 May, before the press, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, had hoped that the European Union would present its position on a possible annexation at this Friday’s meeting. “It is important for me and for the European Union foreign policy to know what is the position of the Member States with respect to the respect of international law, and how we can judge this (Israeli) announcement and actions, in order to clarify the position of the European Union”, he said, aware that this is “a very divisive issue in the EU Council and that different Member States have different positions”.
Acknowledging that the EU did not have precise information on what the government intends to do about the annexations, a senior European official said on Thursday 14 May that the Ministers’ discussion would focus more on how the EU should react if such a scenario were to materialise. In April, Mr Borrell had warned that the EU would closely monitor the situation and “act accordingly”.
However, even before the Ministers’ meeting, eight or nine Member States have already asked the High Representative to prepare a document listing possible options for reacting to such Israeli actions, according to this official. “We will see (what happens in the EU Council), but my impression is that we are not there yet, we are assessing the situation”, he added.
Asked about possible sanctions against the Jewish State, Mr Borrell had recalled, on Tuesday 12, that such measures required unanimity. “We are for the time being far from discussing sanctioning”, he said. Although Israel’s settlement policy, in violation of international law, has been going on for years, Europeans have never taken restrictive measures against it.
Southern Neighbourhood
Ministers will also discuss the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the countries in the EU’s southern neighbourhood. According to this senior official, while the impact of the coronavirus on health has so far been less than feared, the economic consequences are likely to be significant. Most of these countries are tourist destinations and benefit from inflows of money from their citizens who have emigrated to Europe. The EU has already announced more than 2 billion euros in aid to Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia: 30.8 million euros for immediate needs, 572 million euros for strengthening national health systems and 1.5 billion euros to support socio-economic recovery (see EUROPE 12464/14).
And if, as has been his habit since the beginning of the crisis, Mr Borrell should take stock of consular cooperation and the repatriation of Europeans, the issue is not planned to be discussed. Several thousand Europeans are still stranded in Maghreb. The Senior Official said that the EU was continuing to work with Member States and the authorities of the non-Member States concerned on this issue, which was complicated by the problem of citizens with dual nationality.
Finally, the High Representative is expected to say a few words on the EU/Western Balkans summit on 6 May (see EUROPE 12482/21).
Furthermore, according to the senior official, in the margins of the EU Council, the EU is expected to issue a statement on Turkey’s actions in the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus and in the airspace of Greece. Turkey had been the subject of an “in-depth” discussion at the meeting on 22 April (see EUROPE 12470/17). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)