SPAIN'S Prime Minister has urged the European Commission to "respond once and for all" to European countries in the bloc calling on an urgent review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
The comments refer to Spain and Ireland formally requesting for an urgent review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement amid concerns that human rights clauses in the trade pact were being breached.
It is understood that while Spain and Ireland made requests formally, Slovenia and Belgium are also wanting to reopen the agreement. Finland, Austria and Germany "are more sceptical", according to Politico.
On Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: "The European Commission must respond once and for all to the formal request made by two European countries to suspend the association agreement with Israel if it is found, as everything suggests, that human rights are being violated."
It comes after the leaders of France, Italy and Spain condemned “unjustifiable” Israeli attacks on UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon on Saturday. Sanchez had also called on the international community to halt arms exports to Israel.
The three EU countries released a joint statement which expressed “outrage” over the attacks and accused Israel of seriously violating its obligations under humanitarian international law
Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris had warned that the world would look back on the conflict as a “time of dark shame”, sharing that he asked himself “every single day” what more the Irish Government could do.
Speaking in Dublin in August, he said: “I find the scenes that are happening in the Middle East to be grotesque and almost unimaginable in terms of the scale of catastrophe.
“I’ve called it a war on children, I believe it to be that. The actions of Israel are utterly disproportionate.
“I’m also very conscious when it comes to things like trade, that is done at an EU level.
“To be clear, I do not believe the world, the European Union, has done enough to bring about a ceasefire. I believe when we look back at this period of time, it will be a time of dark shame for the world.
“Because there are levers that could be pulled at the European level that have not yet been pulled.”
