BRUSSELS –
European countries including Spain and Ireland pushed on Tuesday to suspend a pact governing the EU’s ties with Israel but failed to garner enough support from the bloc’s other members for any action. Arriving at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg, a number of ministers called for suspending or partially suspending the pact over concerns about settlements in the West Bank, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and a new death penalty law.
“Today, Europe’s credibility is at stake,” Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters, calling for a discussion on suspending the association agreement, which came into force in 2000. But member countries have diverging positions as to whether — and how — to shift the bloc’s policies on Israel.
Speaking after the ministers’ discussions, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said there was not sufficient support to suspend the agreement, but that discussions on the relationship with Israel would continue.