EU countries are due to take stock of the review of the EU/Israel Association Agreement at the next EU ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council, scheduled for Monday 23 June, said the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, on Wednesday 28 May.
“We had a very intense discussion with the foreign ministers and we decided to launch the review. It is being conducted right now, so we can have a discussion with the foreign affairs ministers in June with results. I intend to propose options to the Member States then”, she declared at a press conference Wednesday early afternoon.
At a meeting the same day in Brussels with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, stressed the importance of the EU "increasing the pressure on Israel to stop its illegal invasion by suspending the EU/Israel Association Agreement and adopting sanctions, including an embargo on arms sales", according to a report by the Spanish authorities.
On Wednesday, Ms Kallas renewed the EU’s call for an immediate return to the Middle East ceasefire, the release of hostages and a permanent end to hostilities through negotiations.
The High Representative strongly condemned Israel’s latest military manoeuvres in the occupied Palestinian territories, in particular “the continued targeting of civilian infrastructure”, which she deemed unacceptable. “The disproportionate use of force and the deaths of civilians cannot be tolerated”, she stressed.
In addition, as an aid distribution was launched on Monday by the ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’, a private organisation supported by the United States, Ms Kallas reaffirmed that humanitarian aid must never be politicised or militarised.
“The majority of aid is sponsored by Europe. It remains behind the borders, not reaching the people. We have been very clear of not supporting any kind of privatisation of humanitarian aid”, she told the press. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)