The heads of European Union (EU) diplomacy, meeting yesterday in Brussels, tried to reach political agreements on sanctions once morest the Islamist group Hamas, Israeli settlers in the West Bank and people linked to the death of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny
The heads of European Union (EU) diplomacy, meeting yesterday in Brussels, tried to reach political agreements on sanctions once morest the Islamist group Hamas, Israeli settlers in the West Bank and people linked to the death of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny.
The information was provided by European sources in anticipation of the agreement, which also reported the participation via videoconference of the North American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, as well as the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba.
Regarding the Middle East, it was expected that in yesterday’s meeting, which started at 10:30 am (local time) there would be a preliminary ‘green light’ (only at the political level, with adoption to take place later) for the European Union (EU) to move forward with restrictive measures once morest Hamas and Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
While in the first case the EU intends to sanction those involved in sexual crimes committed by members of the Islamist group Hamas in the context of last October’s terrorist attack once morest Israel, in the second the idea is to respond to the behavior of some extremist Israeli settlers.
Hungary has refused any type of sanctions once morest Israeli settlers in the West Bank, which is why the remaining 26 foreign ministers need to convince their Hungarian counterpart or move forward with this measure in another way.
On the table at this Foreign Affairs Council there will also be a discussion regarding the EU’s relations with Israel, when community diplomacy considers a possible suspension of the cooperation agreement with Tel Aviv due to the military intervention in Gaza. It will be up to the heads of European diplomacy to politically assess whether or not there is a basis for suspending the association agreement between Brussels and Tel Aviv.
Israel began bombing Gaza following attacks by Hamas in the south of Israeli territory, carried out in October 2023, justifying the intervention with the need to nullify Hamas’ military capabilities.
The invasion of Gaza is the latest episode in a conflict lasting more than seven decades between Israel and Palestine, which is still not recognized as a state by the entire international community. Regarding Alexei Navalny, who died in a prison in the Arctic Circle in mid-February, the EU will try to reach a political agreement to sanction individuals and entities linked to the abuse and death of the Russian politician.
Community sources said that, at the proposal of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, the possibility of creating a specific legal framework to sanction human rights violations in Russia will be discussed, a regime that would be named by Alexei Navalny.