On 16 June, the EU-Israel Association Council will convene. During the past months, Israel has vigourously pursued an upgrading of its relations with the EU, seeking to obtain a ‘special status’ and participation in decision making bodies.
Eight years ago, the Association Agreement between
Israel and the European Union entered into force. The Agreement established
a free trade area between the European Community
and Israel and provides a legal basis for the EU’s relations
with Israel. The treaty also created an institutional
political dialogue in the form of an Association Council, where Israeli and EU
Ministers of Foreign Affairs meet once a year to discuss issues of mutual
interest.
On Monday June 16th, the EU-Israel Association
Council will convene for the eighth time. For Israel the stakes are high.
During the past months the country has vigourously pursued an upgrading of its
relations with the EU, seeking to obtain a ‘special status’ and participation
in decision making bodies, agencies and programmes of the Community in the
framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The CIDSE working group on
Palestine-Israel calls for caution and stresses that in deepening and expanding
this privileged cooperation, the EU has to respect its own obligations under
international law as the basis for any engagement with partner countries in the
Middle East. In reality the proposed upgrade would widen the gap between the
Union’s declarative and operational policies in the region.
In recent years, the European Union has
continually urged Israel to stop and reverse its unlawful occupation policies
in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), including the construction of settlements
and the Wall. At the same time, it has not made any determined efforts to stop
ongoing systematic violations of international humanitarian law and human
rights from having legal effects in the conduct of its bilateral relations with
Israel. In practice, the EU has not prevented Israel from implementing its
privileged contractual relations (such as the Association Agreement) in an
internationally unlawful manner.
This is clear in the case of the Association
Agreement, which allows Israel to export many of its products to the EU without
paying customs duties. Contrary to the ‘rules of origin’, that determine that
the agreement only applies on Israel proper, Israel consistently applies the
Agreement to the oPt. It exports settlement products to the EU under the label
‘made in Israel’. The European Council and European Commission have clearly stated
that the preferential importation of settlement products violates Community
law. They have also taken the position that Israel’s certifying them as
eligible for preferential treatment is a violation of the Association
Agreement. The ‘technical arrangement’ that the EU has established to recover
duties on settlement-related imports does not offer a satisfying solution as
Israel continues its malpractice.
The CIDSE working Group on Palestine-Israel calls on policy-makers
to establish mechanisms that ensure that private enterprises and research institutions in
Israeli settlements do not benefit from financial assistance or any other
privileges in the context of enhanced cooperation between Israel and the EU. The
EU has a duty of non-recognition of unlawful acts and must refrain from
participating in measures determined by unlawful policies. When opening up new
areas of bilateral cooperation, legal precautions have to be taken in advance. All
agreements should include explicit conditionalities and incorporate
well-defined benchmarks with regard to respect for human rights and
international humanitarian law.
More information:
Koen
De Groof, policy
officer CIDSE working group Palestine-Israel, 02/213.04.32 (office), 0486/37.01.01
(mobile),
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