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 Gaza 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.

Berlin, Rome reject proposal to suspend cooperation deal

“I didn’t see the shifting of positions in the room regarding the suspension,” she said in a press conference. Kallas said she would bring up ideas raised by ministers with the EU’s trade commissioner.

Germany, Italy stance

Germany and Italy on Tuesday rebuffed calls to suspend an EU cooperation deal with Israel, despite rising anger over the war in Lebanon and the situation in the West Bank.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called the proposal “inappropriate”. “We have to talk with Israel about the critical issues,” he said, adding: “That has to be done in a critical, constructive dialogue with Israel.”

Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani pushed back as well, saying that “no decision will be taken today”. “We need to act. We need to make sure that our fundamental values are protected,” Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said.

Reticence

Facing alarm at the civilian toll exacted in the Gaza war, the EU last year already put on the table a raft of potential measures to punish Israel, including cutting trade ties or sanctioning government ministers. But so far none of the steps laid out by Brussels has garnered enough support from member states to be put into action.

Suspending the entirety of the EU’s cooperation agreement requires unanimity among the bloc’s 27 countries and would almost certainly be blocked by allies of Israel.

More feasible could be suspending the part of the deal facilitating closer trade ties, a move that only requires support from a weighted majority of EU countries. But that would require a shift in position from EU heavyweights Germany or Italy.

Rome had appeared to signal it could be open for a tougher line on Israel after it suspended a defence agreement. “The measures that we have already on the table that require qualified majority will require states shifting their position,” Kallas said after the meeting. “We didn’t see that today, but these discussions will continue.”

Meanwhile, there were efforts to advance smaller measures instead. France and Sweden re-upped an earlier call from some other EU countries for the bloc to consider halting the import of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.

A separate proposal for sanctions on “extremist” Israeli settlers in the West Bank had been vetoed by Hungary for months. But the recent ouster of staunch Israel backer Viktor Orban in Hungarian elections has raised hopes among other EU countries that those could soon go into force.

Trading partner

Ministers from countries including Ireland and Belgium pushed for a shift in the EU’s policy. However, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot added that Belgium was “aware that a full suspension is probably out of reach given the positions of the various European countries”.

The European Union is Israel’s biggest trading partner, with trade in goods between the two amounting to 42.6 billion euros in 2024, according to the EU. The EU also has proposals on the table to impose sanctions on violent settlers and Israeli ministers it deems to be extremist.

These proposals require unanimous backing from member countries, with diplomats hoping that the measures targeting violent settlers could move ahead once a new Hungarian government comes in to office in May. Israel has blamed settler attacks on a “fringe minority”. Sweden and France circulated a paper ahead of Tuesday’s meeting calling for the EU to take stronger action to limit commercial engagement with illegal settlements.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are deemed illegal by the United Nations and much of the international community. Israel disputes that interpretation. Palestinians hope the West Bank will be part of a future state.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2026