The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, greeted the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, last October in Tel Aviv.DPA via Europa Press (DPA via Europa Press)
It is almost an axiom in Brussels to say that the EU does not have an army or a large military force, but it does have commercial power to influence international relations.
Although it admits nuances, the phrase fits the relationship of the European Union with Israel, which has the community bloc as its first trading partner.
The exchanges maintained by both parties total more than 63,000 million euros annually in goods and services;
a very low figure for the 27 European States, which in 2022 reached a total volume close to five billion between imports and exports, but very high for the Israeli State, since this amount represents close to 25% of all its commercial transactions with the world, according to the latest data available from the European Commission, 2022 for goods and 2021 for services.
Spain and Ireland pointed to the suspension of this relationship in the letter sent to Brussels and known this Wednesday in which they demand measures for violations of international law by requesting the review of the association agreement in which this commercial relationship is part.
The pact, signed by both parties in 1995 and in force since 2000, is one of the oldest of its kind between the community club and a third country.
It was activated the same year as the one reached with another strategic partner and neighbor of the EU, Morocco.
Transactions of goods and services have a favorable balance for the 27 of almost 15,000 million.
Going down to the detail of what Europe and Israel exchange, it is discovered that machinery and vehicles are the most important in both sales and purchases.
The EU exports goods of this type for 12,250 million, with a notable presence of automobiles and electronic equipment, and imports for 7,600 million (more than half correspond to electronic components and integrated circuits).
European sales of medicines and chemical products also exceed 5,000 million for a little more than 3,500 million in purchases.
Agri-food products also have their importance.
The products in which the commercial relationship can be classified as residual are weapons and ammunition.
Just European sales of 42 million for purchases from Israel of 58 million.
But the interruption of the agreement - or any of its clauses - due to breaches of international humanitarian law by Israel (due to its attacks on the civilian population of Gaza) is not simple.
It would be taken in the European Council - it brings together the heads of State and Government of the European countries - and unanimously, according to community sources.
And Israel's offensive on the Strip is one of the most divisive issues within the EU.
The Twenty-Seven have not been able to agree even to demand a humanitarian ceasefire – they ask for “humanitarian pauses” – nor to impose sanctions on violent settlers in the West Bank, as the United States or France have done.
The legal services of the EU Foreign Service (EEAS) are now studying the Spanish-Irish letter to determine the steps to follow.
On the table is creating a committee to analyze possible violations of the provisions of the agreement.
European legislation establishes that a trade agreement such as the one that unites Israel and the EU since 2000 can be suspended after a proposal to the Council of the Commission or the high representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, depending on the content of the agreement. .
“As for the existence of reasons for suspension in this case, this is a matter of political evaluation that should be carried out by the Council, at the initiative of the high representative, since it is a matter of foreign policy,” says a spokesman.
Restrict weapons shipments
Since the start of the war, Borrell has been one of the most critical voices against Israel for its human rights violations and the siege of the Strip.
On Monday, the head of European diplomacy urged restricting arms shipments to Israel in the face of the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip and the number of Palestinian deaths (almost 29,000).
A message addressed above all to the United States but also to European partners.
The head of European diplomacy assured this Thursday that the case is already being studied and that he hopes to be able to give a response "soon."
The claim by Spain and Ireland, to which many MEPs were joining this Thursday, may thus lead the EEAS to rule more specifically on Israel's violations and how this affects the agreement.
Still, even if the report is critical, a group of countries including Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic will refuse to suspend it.
Spain, together with Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg - and sometimes Malta - form the group most critical of the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the siege of Gaza, which they maintain violates international law.
However, in the community club there are several members who look askance at what Germany is doing to take it as a guide.
Berlin, one of the members that has most actively supported Israel without fissures after the Hamas attacks of October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and almost 200 kidnapped, has hardened its stance on the attacks on Gaza and the deaths of civilians, but it has not been planted.
The most energetic message has been sent by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, of the Greens.
“The fight is against terrorism and not against the innocent civilian population,” she declared this week.
“And if action is now also taken against the Hamas terrorist organization in Rafah, then it is our joint responsibility.
It is the responsibility of the Israeli army to provide safe corridors so that these people who sought protection there can get to safety,” she stressed.
It is not only trade that points to the intensity of relations between the EU and Israel.
There is much other evidence to support this.
For example, Israeli students and teachers participate in the Erasmus program: 9,592 have come to one of the member states between 2015 and 2022 and 7,481 Europeans have gone there.
You can also look at the great European research program Horizon Europe, in which Israel participates and from which it receives 170 million a year for projects.
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