The EU will halt millions of Euro of funding destined for Israel in protest at the war in Gaza.
In her annual ‘State of the EU’ address to the European Parliament, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said “what is happening in Gaza is unacceptable”.
Ireland is amongst a group of European countries which have pressured the EU to act, including by cutting off European funds.
But von der Leyen admitted that attempts to do so had been stymied because they were “stuck without a majority” in the European Council.
“We cannot afford to be paralysed. This is why I will propose a package of measures to carve out a way forward”, she announced to MEPs.
“The Commission will do all that it can on its own. We will put our bilateral support to Israel on hold.”
She added that humanitarian projects, and programmes in support of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem, would not be affected.
The amount of funding Israel will lose looks set to be in the low tens of millions.
“Israel is set to receive an average of €6 million per year between 2025 and 2027 [from the EU]”, a Commission Spokesperson said.
“This funding is meant to reinforce the EU-Israel bilateral relations. Future yearly allocations…will be suspended.”
“In addition, the EU will put on hold approximately €14 million for ongoing projects. More specifically, it means that we will put on hold include ongoing institutional cooperation projects with Israel.”
The European Commission will also consider what other projects it might be able to freeze.
“We will further evaluate the projects funded under the Regional EU-Israel cooperation facility”, the spokesperson added.
In a statement, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said:
“The President of the Commission errs in yielding to the pressures of elements that seek to undermine Israel–Europe relations. This trend is contrary to the interests of the European states themselves.
And mainly: this is not acceptable conduct between partners.”