EU won't ban trade with Israeli settlements after ministers fail to reach majority

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The European Union will not yet introduce a ban on products from territories illegally occupied by Israel after less than half of the bloc’s foreign ministers voted for action on the issue during a tense meeting Monday.

A group of EU countries has been haranguing the executive to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, in what has become a battle between the EU’s institutions as well as between capitals with differing stances on Israel’s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

After Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that a proposal to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank had “got the most support” from members. However, it fell short of the simple majority needed to compel the European Commission to present specific sanctions for member countries to vote on.

“All the 27 member states agree that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law,” Kallas said, adding that the EU’s existing policies have “not done much to limit trade with the settlements” because of inconsistent implementation.

The Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, has resisted efforts to impose new trade barriers on Israel and did not present EU countries with formal measures for them to vote on at Monday’s meeting. It did provide an options paper for possible measures, including the trade ban, an import licensing system, and targeted tariffs.

A group of EU countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain and backed by Kallas, came into Monday’s meeting looking to force the Commission to bring specific measures for them to vote on. But only 11 actually called for concrete measures from the European Commission at the meeting, according to an EU diplomat directly aware of the exchanges — short of the simple majority needed to force the EU executive to propose such measures.

“The situation is starting to be irritating,” said a different diplomat, who hails from a country strongly supportive of further measures against imports from the settlements. “We want to be able to vote on measures and see whether they are supported or rejected. This constant in-between state is worse.”

Kallas also lamented that no immediate decision could be taken because of the Commission’s stance, but said she hoped that, since “there is a will [from member countries] … we can move forward.”

She said ambassadors have been tasked with working on the issue, and an extraordinary meeting on it is likely. She emphasized the measures are not against Israel, but against the illegal settlements which she says undermine the two-state solution.

Inside the Foreign Affairs Council meeting room, the tone of talks among foreign ministers on Israel sanctions was “tense” and “frank” between those who support further measures and those who oppose them, according to two EU diplomats aware of the talks.

The Commission also maintains that imposing any sanctions would require a unanimous vote by member countries, rather than the qualified majority Kallas believes is necessary. The distinction at issue is whether the measures are trade measures or sanctions. The difference is that the former requires only a qualified majority of states to pass, while the latter requires unanimity.

Writing on X, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideo Sa’ar, who has sparred with Kallas , said the point is moot, given there was no majority at all.