According to Léon Delvaux, Director at the European Commission’s DG Trade, the EU’s trade with the Israeli settlements “fully complied with the 2024 opinion of the International Court of Justice”. “There is therefore no need to introduce a ban on trade with the settlements”, he told MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) on Tuesday 4 November.
A few minutes earlier, Ignacio García Bercero, his former retired colleague from the European Commission and now a consultant for Bruegel, had said the opposite. “It is the view of the Commission that our policy is fully in line with the ICJ opinion and therefore there is no need to take action on banning trade with the settlements”.
On 19 July 2024, the ICJ declared that third States are “under an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by Israel’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
According to Ignacio García Bercero, the economy of the colonies is totally unviable without trade with the EU. In this sense, the EU is helping to maintain the settlements, and labelling products from these occupied territories is not enough to comply with the opinion of the International Court of Justice, according to the former director of the European Commission's DG Trade.
During a lively debate, MEPs from the S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups voted in favour of suspending the trade part of the Association Agreement with Israel and banning products from the settlements. Opposite them, the members of the EPP, PfE and ECR groups defended trade with Israel. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)