On Thursday 26 June, the President of the European Council, António Costa, condemned the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and the fact that human rights are being violated, adding that the foreign affairs ministers of the Member States would be discussing the next steps for EU action at their Council meeting in mid-July. In the meantime, the Europeans will discuss with Israel “how to get out of the crisis and change the situation on the ground”, added Mr Costa at the end of the European Summit.
Deploring, in its conclusions, the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza, the “unacceptable” number of civilian casualties and “the levels of starvation”, and calling on Israel to lift its blockade completely, the European Council simply “takes note of the report on Israel’s compliance with Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and invites the Council to continue discussions on a follow-up, as appropriate, in July 2025, taking into account the evolution of the situation on the ground”.
However, the adoption of measures could prove difficult due to divisions between Member States (see EUROPE 13665/3).
On his arrival, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob explained that “Israel was violating human rights and it (was) the duty (of Europeans) to act accordingly”, and “quickly and decisively”. He specified that if this was not done at European level, he would do it at national level. “The minimum we expect is a freeze on the trade part of the agreement”, he explained.
Ireland’s Michael Martin warned that “Europeans find it incomprehensible that Europe does not seem to be in a position to put pressure on Israel and influence it to put an end to this war and the continuing slaughter of innocent children and civilians”. He said he would seek to “put in place mechanisms to ensure that (the) war stops and that humanitarian aid reaches Gaza as a matter of urgency”.
Describing the situation as “genocide”, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, stressed that it was incoherent to have 18 packages of sanctions against Russia for its aggression against Ukraine “while at the same time, faced with a flagrant violation of human rights, Europe is not even capable of suspending an association agreement. This double standard is unacceptable”.
But other leaders were more moderate, all while denouncing the humanitarian situation. “The Association Agreement has little to do with the short-term humanitarian situation. Europe should focus on this point”, according to Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever. His Luxembourg counterpart, Luc Frieden, said that dialogue was “more important than freezing agreements”.
The Austrian Chancellor, Christian Stocker, to whom the Israeli Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, had “assured that he will intensify all efforts to enable effective humanitarian aid”, considered that a suspension of the agreement would have no beneficial effect.
Beyond the association agreement, Mr Martin pointed out that the EU had other means of action, citing the sanctions adopted by third countries against violent settlers and extremist Israeli ministers.
To see the conclusions of the European Council: https://aeur.eu/f/hlm (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with the editorial staff)