100 MEPs to Von der Leyen: ‘Pass legislation immediately to ban trade with Israeli settlements’
The appeal was launched by Barry Andrews, the Irish MEP from Renew Europe, and signed by members mainly from the S&D, the Left, the Greens and Renew, as well as a few from the EPP
A group of over 100 MEPs has written a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to make an “urgent appeal for a Commission legislative proposal to ban EU trade with illegal Israeli settlements”. The letter was initiated by the Irish MEP from Renew Europe, Barry Andrews, and signed by members mainly from S&D, The Left, the Greens and Renew, as well as a few from the EPP. “We are writing to you ahead of your State of the European Union address and following the Joint Declaration by Foreign Ministers on the two-state solution of 8 September. We urge you to finally put forward a legislative proposal to ban EU trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories”, the MEPs write.
A halt is possible even without unanimity
“The European Union has long claimed a leadership role in the region, as one of the main advocates of the two-state solution. Yet it is the United Kingdom and Canada, two of our key partners, that have committed to acting in support of this objective by banning trade with the settlements,” the letter states. “The urgency to act has only increased since the Israeli government published a call for tenders for the E1 settlement on 18 August, breaching a long-standing EU ‘red line’. As the guardian of the EU Treaties, which requires compliance with international law in the EU’s external action, the Commission must propose an appropriate regulation without further delay”.
“The Council’s Legal Service has confirmed that Article 207 TFEU” – the one concerning trade policy and which would therefore allow for a decision by qualified majority rather than unanimity – “can serve as the legal basis for such a measure, a conclusion shared by over 100 legal experts and dozens of human rights organisations and trade unions”, they write.
Corrado (PD): “Settlements are a violation of international law”
Among the signatories of the appeal is also Annalisa Corrado, MEP and head of the Environment Committee for the PD. The settlements – Corrado emphasises in a statement – “are a violation of international law and a very serious obstacle to the two-state solution. Europe must move from words to action and use all the tools at its disposal to halt this expansion, which is supported, fuelled and promoted by Netanyahu’s genocidal government and the Israeli army’.
“The legal basis for action exists and, as highlighted in the letter, Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union allows for intervention through the common commercial policy. Now the Commission must act: respect for international law cannot be a principle of variable geometry and can no longer be trampled underfoot before our very eyes without an appropriate response”, he concludes.
