The European Commission should present legal options for banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said on Monday.
The chief EU diplomat – who is herself a commisioner – said many member states asked for the measures at a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
Her remarks will put further pressure on her boss Ursula von der Leyen, and Maroš Šefčovič, the trade commissioner, to come forward with the measures, amid a stand-off inside the Berlaymont over what legal basis to use, and whether such measures are worth pushing for, while other sanctions remain blocked.
“I will […] ask the Commission to prepare ahead of the next Foreign Affairs Council a list of options for possible trade measures, including measures aimed at preventing imports of goods originating from illegal settlements,” she said. The Council next meets on 13 July in Brussels.
Trade measures would only require the support of a qualified majority of countries as opposed to all 27, meaning capitals opposed to the move such as Prague could be sidestepped. However, that slimmer majority has proven elusive so far when it comes to suspending the trade parts of Israel and the EU’s association agreement.
Several commissioners pushed back on her call for such measures at a meeting in May, telling Kallas to focus on garnering consensus for stalled sanctions against Israel that have already been proposed.
The latest push stems from a Franco-Swedish paper in late April. The EEAS then floated an ‘options paper’ that failed to materialise in May. Kallas then emphasised she was waiting for Šefčovič to act, saying she had asked for the proposal, but “I can’t draft it”.
The former Estonian PM has maintained a silence after Euractiv’s reporting that she broke with the official EU foreign policy line when comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to South African apartheid.
Kallas also said there was “no consensus” on a push by many countries to sanction Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right Israeli minister, over his brutal handling of flotilla activists.
Nicoletta Ionta contributed reporting
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