The European Commission will today ask member states including Ireland to cut off hundreds of millions of Euro in research funding from Israel in reaction to the war in Gaza.
An EU source confirmed that the European Commission now considers Israel to be in “material breach” of Article 2, the humanitarian clause of the EU-Israel trade agreement.
It comes as the IPC, UN-backed organisation which monitors food security around the world, has warned that it now views Gaza as falling in the “worst-case scenario of famine”.
The European Commission has now proposed to use Article 2 to trigger a “partial” freeze on EU-Israel research cooperation.
Israel benefited from €900 million of funding through the EU’s research programme, Horizon Europe, since 2021.
The European Commission proposal is to freeze Israel’s access to the EIC Accelerator programme within the fund, worth €200 million to Israel.
The EIC Accelerator programme funds start-up companies to develop disruptive technologies, developments that can trigger a material step forward in research and science.
An EU source pointed out that it was the AIC is the only EU research programme which funds so-called dual use projects, concepts which can have military as well as civilian benefits.
The European Commission believes that ending Israel’s access to the funding will be legally sound under the treaty.
Triggering Article 2 must be justified as an “appropriate and proportionate” response to the situation.
The European Commission is confident that Israel’s actions in Gaza meets this threshold.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the proposal “mistaken, regrettable, and unjustified”.
The proposal will be put to EU member states today. A majority of EU governments will need to support the action for it to happen.
The Dutch Prime Minister has already said he favours the funding freeze.
“The Netherlands supports the plan to suspend Israeli participation in the EU research programme Horizon.”
He also went on to say that if the move is backed by a majority of EU member states, there could yet before more action by the EU against Israel.
“The Netherlands will also press for further European measures, for example in the realm of trade”, Prime Minister Dick Schoof added.