The High Representative, Josep Borrell, has called out his head in the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for ignoring Spain and Ireland's request to review the trade deal with Israel over human rights violations in the Gaza Strip. Pedro Sánchez and then Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, They sent a letter almost three months ago to the head of the community council in which they proposed revising the association agreement, which includes the possibility of suspending it if international law is violated.
“The President of the European Commission has not responded to the letter,” Borrell responded in statements to journalists, who asked him whether now, after Benjamin Netanyahu's attack on Rafah, it is time to take steps in that direction. The European Commission is responsible for the commercial part of that decision, as this is an exclusive competence of the EU, while the head of European diplomacy recalled that he has put on the table the possibility for foreign ministers to hold a meeting of the Council of Foreign Affairs. partnership to address the issue with Israel, but was rejected.
Both government and community sources acknowledge that there is not enough consensus within the EU to decide on these features. In fact, The Belgian government is asking European countries to impose sanctions on trade with Israel bilateral. It is an emerging debate. In any case, the High Representative has not ruled out the imposition of restrictive measures following the Rafah offensive and has left the door open to discuss this at the next meeting of Foreign Ministers.
On this occasion, Borrell will meet EU Ministers of Cooperation and Development to discuss humanitarian aid. In fact, he has taken the opportunity to demand the full release of funds for the Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA). Aid from Brussels was temporarily halted after allegations that a handful of employees took part in the October 7 attacks on Hamas. The investigation concluded that there was no evidence for these claims and Brussels released 50 million euros. The High Representative has asked that everything in the budget be implemented.
“Continuing the war will create a new humanitarian crisis, greater than the current one,” Borrell complained about Israel's attack on Rafah, where there are more than one and a half million refugees, including about 600,000 children. “There will be many casualties,” warned the head of European diplomacy, who has blamed Netanyahu for this offensive despite calls against it from the international community, including the United States.