On Friday 19 June, European leaders noted “the Commission’s intention to present options before the Council meeting of 13 July 2026, in light of a further deteriorating situation regarding the illegal settlements”. On Monday 15 June, at the Foreign Affairs Council, ministers had requested such options (see EUROPE 13888/3).
But until now, the European Commission had always publicly refused to prepare such options. “We have made a clear request, and next month the foreign ministers will discuss the proposals that the Commission will make”, explained Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.
In its conclusions, the European Council reiterates its condemnation of Israel’s unilateral actions aimed at expanding its presence in the West Bank, actions “which the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of 19 July 2024 declared to be unlawful”. According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the European Council discussed “deepening differentiation between the territory of Israel and the illegal settlements in order to align (the EU’s) trade policy with international law”.
European leaders urged the Israeli government to reverse the expansion of settlements.
This condemnation, however, may not be enough for measures to be adopted. At the end of the summit, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz specified that the leaders had “mentioned trade measures against Israel. I rejected these proposals on behalf of the German government”, he warned.
The European Council was also more measured than expected regarding sanctions against extremist Israeli ministers. While in earlier draft conclusions the leaders had invited the Council of the EU to continue examining restrictive measures against extremist ministers, in the final approved text the leaders condemned the conduct of extremist ministers inciting and promoting violations of human rights, and noted “that the Council will continue examining measures in this regard”.
The measure is not unanimously supported within the Member States. On his arrival at the summit, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša had warned that his country was “not in favour, for example, of the idea of talking about sanctions against the government of the only democratic country in the Middle East”.
Conversely, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that he had defended a “firm and consistent position” consisting in particular of “partially suspending the Association Agreement with Israel, sanctioning those who glorify genocide and, of course, banning trade in products manufactured or produced in the illegal settlements established in the West Bank”.
After the United States/Iran agreement, peace must reach Lebanon. Welcoming the agreement reached between the United States and Iran, the leaders also called for Lebanon not to be forgotten. On Friday, although a ceasefire agreement had been announced between Israel and Hezbollah, strikes appeared to be continuing. Earlier in the day, the Lebanese Ministry of Health had announced the death of at least 47 people and a further 97 people who had been injured in Israeli strikes.
“A stable and peaceful Middle East also requires a stable and sovereign Lebanon. We support the Lebanese leaderships effort to achieve the disarmament of Hezbollah. At the same time, it is important that Israel respects both the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon”, summarised European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Read the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/mgw (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)