Geldern to Israel: EU Commission stops auxiliary payments

The EU Commission Puts out your bilateral aid payments to Israel because of the country’s procedure in the Gaza Strip. This announced Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her speech on the situation of the Union. All corresponding payments will be stopped, she said in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

However, the cooperation with Israeli civil society and the Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem was not affected. In addition, from the Leyen announced that the member countries submit proposals for sanctions against extremist ministers and against violent settlers. The Member States also wanted to be recommended to suspend trade agreements contained in a partnership agreement. In the coming month, a group of donors for Palestine should be set up, which will also include an instrument for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

“I am aware that it will be difficult to find majorities for it,” said von der Leyen in her first speech on the situation of the EU in her second term. For some states, each of these measures goes too far and not far enough for others. “But we all have to do justice to our responsibility – Parliament, Council and Commission.”

The EU is deeply divided when dealing with Israel. So far, the member countries have not been able to agree on proposed measures by the Brussels authority. At the end of July, the Commission had proposed to hire the cooperation as part of the Horizon Europe research promotion program. This is intended to increase the pressure on the country to enable better humanitarian care for people in the sealed -off Gaza Strip, where Israel fights Islamist Hamas. Israeli companies could lose access to grants in the millions by the punishment.

As a reason, it is said that Israel violates human rights and humanitarian international law with his approach in the Gaza Strip and the resulting humanitarian disaster. This violates an essential principle of cooperation between the EU and Israel in the context of the applicable association agreement.

Among other things, Germany speaks against it and does not want to agree to the sanctions. Other countries such as Spain expressed a clear lack of understanding of the rejection of the commission proposal. Whether the EU Commission’s sanction proposal can be implemented depends on whether he receives the support of a so-called qualified majority in the Council of Member States.

Specifically, 15 of the 27 EU countries would have to agree to represent at least 65 percent of the population of the participating Member States. In the end, only the support of Germany or Italy was missing. All other large EU countries and many smaller ones are for the punishment.

At first of the Leyen said nothing about the scope of the means that are to be frozen. According to commission information, the EU flow from an instrument for neighborhood, development cooperation and international cooperation to Israel, among other things. With an average of 1.8 million euros per year, the EU wants to support the rapprochement of Israeli norms and standards in public administration to those of the EU.

Israeli organizations of civil society are also eligible from the EU. According to the EU Commission, projects with a total value of 1.2 million euros were financed in 2020.

Israel fights Islamist Hamas in the now large -scale Gaza Strip, which keeps hosting hostages there. The Gaza War triggered the Hamas massacre and other extremists from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023 with 1200 deaths and about 250. Israel defends his approach as a necessary reaction and requires an release of all hostages.

Note: This article has been updated and further information was added.