The European Commission is proposing to reimpose duties on Israeli goods in response to the war in Gaza and ongoing violations in the West Bank, Euronews can exclusively reveal.
In an interview with Euronews, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas confirmed the strategy to suspend trade-related provisions within the Israel-EU Association Agreement.
Trade between the EU and Israel was €42.6 billion in 2024, and the preferential treatment is around 37% of that, she confirmed.
“So it is a significant amount, and when it comes to the preferential treatment, then 37% of that trade really has the preferential treatment,” Kallas told Euronews.
“So definitely this step will have a high cost for Israel,” the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy said.
Article content: To propose slapping duties on Israeli goods. The Council still has to agree, which means Italy or Germany needs to agree, and neither of them seems inclined to. So this is not a done deal yet.
Suspending the trade deal just takes half the members with half the population to agree. Germany and Italy combined have less then a third of the population of the EU.
Yes, I was referring to the article saying that without at least one of them, it’s unlikely to make it:
The matter must be agreed among a qualified majority of member states, meaning at least one of the larger countries – Germany or Italy – will have to support the bid if it is to succeed.
