European Union foreign ministers yesterday were deeply split over the war in Gaza, with some calling for the EU to apply strong economic pressure on Israel while others made clear they were unwilling to go that far.
“We are divided about this issue,” Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said as she arrived for a meeting with the ministers in the Danish capital Copenhagen.
“If you don’t have a unified voice ... on this topic, we don’t have a voice on the global scene. So that’s definitely very problematic,” she said.
Kallas said she was ‘not very optimistic’ that ministers could agree even on a proposal she described as lenient – as it is less severe than other options – to curb Israeli access to an EU research-funding programme.
Many EU governments have criticised Israel’s conduct of the war, particularly over deaths of civilians and restrictions on humanitarian aid. But they have been unable to agree on impactful EU political or economic action.
Countries, including Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands, have called for the suspension of an EU free trade pact with Israel.
But traditional allies of Israel, such as Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic, have rejected such steps.
“If the EU does not act as a collective now and take sanctions against Israel, when will it? What more could it possibly take? Children are starving,” said Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris.
A global hunger monitor that works with the United Nations and major aid agencies said last week it had determined there was famine in Gaza. Israel rejected its findings.
The European Union is Israel’s biggest trading partner, with trade in goods between the two amounting to 42.6 billion euros ($49.9 billion) last year, according to the EU.
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