Socalists, Greens and Left MEPs call for action on Gaza ‘genocide'
"There is clear evidence that a genocide is being committed in Gaza," the letter obtained by Euractiv states. "The European Commission and the European Council have so far failed to respond with the urgency and resolve that our treaties, values and responsibilities demand."
It is signed by the leaders of the three political groups, the S&D's Iratxe García, the Greens' co-leaders Bas Eickhout and Terry Reintke and the Left's co-leaders Manon Aubry and Martin Schirdewan, and it is addressed to European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The letter makes eight demands to the EU's leadership, including immediately suspending the bloc's special trade relationship with Israel, stopping weapons sales from the EU, expanding sanctions on West Bank settlers, and approving targeted sanctions on Israeli authorities which break international law.
The letter is a significant ramping up of pressure from the Parliament since it is signed by two groups – the Socialists and the Greens – who have strong contingents of MEPs from Germany, a country that has been Israel's strongest ally in the EU, and has shielded it in Brussels, among some other countries, from any sanctions so far.
(jp)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euractiv
an hour ago
- Euractiv
Defence
Good afternoon, wherever you may be (presumably, hopefully, not in Brussels). This will be our last newsletter before taking a two-week break. But don't worry, we might still peep into your mailbox if you're subscribed to the guerrilla missive for all the latest on politics, lobbying, and the media. Before we sign off, we'd like to send you off in style. And in true Euractiv form, we're making sure you have your cross-policy-related reading needs met, wherever you are. Politics Even as Brussels is now a ghost town, the criticism of the EU's response to Israel over Gaza has remained very much alive all week. Staffers still in the institutions have been contemplating strike action, accusing the EU of failing to pressure Israel to allow vital humanitarian aid into Gaza, despite an agreement struck back in July. Commission data, obtained by Euractiv on Wednesday, showed that fewer aid trucks are entering the Strip from Israel than the terms of the deal demand. For many in Brussels, the EU's inaction is a question of moral authority, which is, at its core, a mishmash of cultural taboos, laws, and historical legacy. But it's not inevitable. As Israel pressed ahead with its plans to 'take control' of Gaza City on Friday, Germany – a staunch Israel ally – responded with an unprecedented suspension of exports of weapons that may be used in Gaza. Over in Poland, the new President Karol Nawrocki, who is backed by the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, promised a more assertive stance towards Brussels in his inauguration speech on Wednesday, saying that the country cannot be "a subsidiary farm" of the EU. What exactly did he mean by that, and what does that mean for the strained-cum-hopeful Warsaw-Brussels relationship? Find out. On Thursday, Trump's 15% tariffs – which have made policy-makers, industry, and consumers hold their breath for months – came into effect. If you want to know the man behind the EU's deal, we have got you covered: Read our profile on Maroš Šefčovič, the Soviet-trained diplomat and the bloc's forever commissioner. Energy, Environment & Transport This week, we went native on biodiversity by giving one of Europe's hotly contested biodiversity hotspots an in situ visit, Friche Josaphat, in the north of Brussels – will it be bulldozed to make way for much-needed housing? Some lawmakers are pushing for a moratorium. We also had a look at neighbouring France, too. There, the mysterious power of vineyards managed to halt the country's worst wildfire in 75 years, prompting politicians to rethink their plans to tear them down in a bid to protect wine prices. Agrifood Euractiv's agri-food policy team took you on a foodie journey across the continent this week – though not without a sprinkle of policy action added into the mix. We begin in Spain, where rice producers in the Mediterranean region of Valencia – the cradle of paella – are unhappy about brands using imported Asian rice while cashing in on local cultural imagery in their packaging. They argue the practice is misleading and urge Brussels to impose stricter labelling rules and measures to curb imports. And from Valencia to Cádiz, an invasive algae is putting an end to centuries-old artisanal fishing traditions, with fishers warning that the invader is spreading. Staying in the South, a Maltese MEP wants the European Commission to launch an investigation into Italian and Tunisian neighbours fishing for lampuki , a national favourite – before the official season begins next week. Further north in Germany, another culinary staple is under pressure. A workers' strike at a major supplier of kebab meat is sparking fears of higher prices – and strained supply. Tech Tech eyes have this week been turned to the US, as the Trump administration repeatedly attacks the EU's tech rulebook. The EU's content moderation rules – the Digital Services Act (DSA) – have been a major bone of contention since Trump's arrival in office. The White House is now dialling up attacks on the EU digital rulebook, looking to lobby 'to repeal and/or amend' the law. Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's international trade committee, warned in an interview with Euractiv that the Commission might cave in under US pressure. Despite closing a trade "deal" two weeks ago, the terms of the agreement differ between the White House and the EU. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the EU tech laws were still on the table, something the Commission repeatedly denied. Closer to home, we also reported on the Commission's plans for AI Gigafactories, meant to put Europe back in the AI race. Here's a map of the projects that have so far been submitted by the industry. Finally, the frustration of video gamers made headlines thanks to a popular citizens' initiative that begs the EU to help regulate the gaming sector in a bid to keep games alive. Health Trump has kept the pharmaceutical sector busy this week by escalating his threats to impose tariffs on medicine imports. 'It's going to go to 150%, and then it's going to go to 250%, because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country,' he said in a CNBC interview on Tuesday. Four weeks earlier, he had stated that he would start with relatively low tariffs and raise them to 200% 'in about a year, a year and a half.' It's not the only deadline he has set in his long-standing (and so far fruitless) effort to lower drug prices. There is also a deadline for a so-called Section 232 investigation into the sector, as well as one mentioned in a letter he sent to 17 pharmaceutical companies. A growing number of major pharma companies are weighing in on Trump's trade policies. While some stress that they're engaged in constructive talks, Bayer's CEO has warned that tariff uncertainty is already fuelling "volatility". Apart from that, we've been following the story of a €9.7 million stockpile of still-usable, USAID-funded contraceptives that is set to be incinerated in France. NGOs fear the products may already have been destroyed. Denmark , The Netherlands , Norway, and Sweden were first in sending multi-million US military equipment packages to Ukraine, following a new arrangement under which European allies cover the cost of US defence equipment sent to Kyiv. The deliveries will include the highly coveted air-defence Patriot parts and systems. European military aid to Ukraine could also grow bigger in the coming days, with potential new bids on the Commission's €150 billion defence loans to boost Europe's and Ukraine's stockpiles. The Commission gave the nine countries – Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden – who still haven't expressed interest in the programme until 15 August to do so. In the Baltics, alleged Russian drone incursions into Lithuania's airspace further exposed long-standing air defence gaps in the region.
Euractiv
3 hours ago
- Euractiv
Why the EU could stop Israel – but won't
Donald Trump's imposition of historically unprecedented tariffs this week marked the dawn of a new geopolitical era – and Europe barely noticed. The US president's sweeping levies, which included the world's inaugural 'secondary tariffs' on India, upended the global economy and triggered an astonishing thaw in relations between New Delhi and China. Meanwhile, EU leaders largely pontificated about what they should do to end the two wars raging just beyond the bloc's borders – and then, predictably, did almost nothing. The conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza are broadly similar in the death, destruction, and mental and physical trauma they have caused. The reasons for Europe's inability to influence them, however, are vastly different. In Ukraine's case, the reasons are economic. After imposing eighteen rounds of sanctions on Russia, Europe, quite simply, doesn't have that much left to sanction. Moreover, the Kremlin's capacity to continue the war is overwhelmingly dependent on factors far beyond Brussels' control, Moscow's deepening ties with Beijing chief among them. In the case of Gaza, however, the main impediments are political. Many EU countries –especially those still wracked with guilt over their culpability for the Holocaust – are deeply averse to any measures that could significantly impede Israel's war effort. If this internal political resistance were to shift – and, with Germany's announcement earlier today that it would suspend some weapons shipments to Israel, there are signs that it already has – the EU could, in theory , inflict severe economic pain on the country. The EU is Israel's top trade partner, accounting for more than a third of its imports (which include strategically critical goods, like fuel and machinery) and a quarter of its exports. Unlike the bloc's pre-war relationship with Russia, this dependence is also strikingly asymmetric: Israel is the EU's 31st biggest trading partner, ranking behind Morocco and Algeria as the bloc's third-largest in the broader Mediterranean region. This reliance extends to the financial sphere. Europe is, by some distance, Israel's largest investment partner: the 27 EU member states held investments worth €72.1 billion in Israel in 2023 – almost double the US. Underscoring this financial dependence, roughly a quarter of the Bank of Israel's reserves are held in Europe. In principle, these could also be immobilised – much like Russia's central bank assets have been – and their 'unfreezing' made conditional on Israel's ending the war (or paying for Gaza's reconstruction). Finally, Europe's ability to inflict pain on Israel is further bolstered by the fact that the country's economy is already under deep strain. Almost two years of continuous war have caused Israel to suffer weak growth, labour shortages, a swollen budget deficit, and general geopolitical uncertainty – sparking warnings that the country's credit rating could soon be downgraded to 'junk' status. External obstacles Israel's profound vulnerability to EU sanctions is, in fact, widely recognised by analysts. 'The potential suspension or downgrading of EU-Israel trade ties would add significant pressure' on Israel, wrote Lize de Kruijf, a project assistant at the Atlantic Council, a US think tank. 'Given the scale and interdependence of EU-Israel trade, such a move could affect Israel's economic resilience and, by extension, its ability to sustain long-term military operations in Gaza,' she added. The Economist similarly noted last year that even EU export restrictions on military-related goods could 'hurt' Israel. 'Although the country's leaders can shrug off Chilean or South African threats, they are much more vulnerable to European action,' it stated. These (and other) analyses invariably stress the EU's internal political obstacles to such proposals – namely, the deep resistance by many of its member states. But what they miss – and what this week's events underscore – are the external political obstacles, i.e. Trump. This year the US president has shown clearly that he regards trade as a means to achieve various political ends. Just last week, Trump explicitly warned Canada that its decision to recognise Palestine 'will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal' – before promptly hiking tariffs on Ottawa to 35%. It is overwhelmingly likely that, if the EU imposed severe sanctions on Israel, Trump's retaliation would be at least as swift – and more devastating. But Trump might not even need to impose tariffs at all. EU officials have effectively admitted that the main reason for the massively asymmetric 'trade deal' with the US was their fear that Trump might abandon Ukraine. Any threat to withdraw US military support for Europe or Kyiv would almost certainly cause the bloc to rescind sanctions on Israel – and then apologise to Trump for the inconvenience. Strategic short-sightedness There is something of an irony here. On Tuesday, the EU effectively endorsed Trump's 'secondary sanctions' tariffs on India – which are, ostensibly, designed to force New Delhi to stop purchasing Russian oil and, thus, end the Ukraine war. 'We welcome any pressure, and in particular US pressure on Russia, to accept a ceasefire through any means necessary,' a Commission spokesperson said. Such statements are not only a strategic mistake, insofar as they likely hamper the EU's ability to mitigate the impact of Trump's tariffs through strengthened ties with India and other countries in the Global South. They also set a dangerous precedent: by endorsing Trump's use of tariffs for nakedly political ends, Brussels risks inadvertently legitimising their use against Europe. 'You can stop wars with tariffs,' Trump claims. Although the claim itself is debatable, the natural inference is that the US president also believes he can use tariffs to prevent others from stopping them. And, in Europe's case, he's probably right. Economy News Roundup The EU's promise to invest over a trillion dollars in US energy and infrastructure is 'in no way binding', Brussels says. 'The commitments… we have transmitted to the US administration [are] aggregate intentions as regards energy spending and as regards investment in the US economy by EU companies,' a European Commission spokesperson said on Thursday. The comments came two days after US President Donald Trump threatened to hit the EU with a 35% tariff if it fails to deliver on its commitment to invest $600 billion in US infrastructure over the next three and a half years. Read more. Brussels pushes back on German criticism of trade deal. A Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday that the EU executive was 'surprised' by German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil's claim that the bloc is "too weak" on trade policy. "It is most surprising to us to hear that a minister from the member state in question has expressed that view given that nothing has happened here [...] without the clear signal received from our member states," the spokesperson said. Read more. EU could scrap digital laws to appease US. Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's international trade committee, told Euractiv that 'there is a risk' that the EU's landmark Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) could be jettisoned to finalise last month's preliminary trade deal with the US. The DSA, which targets harmful online content, has been repeatedly criticised by US officials for enabling 'digital censorship' and the 'silencing' of Brussels' political opponents. The DMA, meanwhile, has been central to the Commission's antitrust probes and fines targeting US tech giants like Google, Apple, and Meta, drawing backlash from Trump and Silicon Valley. The Commission has repeatedly claimed that the bloc's digital rulebook is not up for discussion during trade talks with Washington. Read more. EU and US agree on how to cut out China. Despite offering sharply conflicting official accounts of last month's trade deal, Brussels and Washington both strongly committed to bolstering their 'economic security' – a thinly veiled allusion to reducing their dependence on Beijing for strategic products and protecting their industries from increasingly fierce Chinese competition. Economic security has also been 'one of the easier issues' discussed by EU and US negotiators in recent months, a senior EU official said. Analysts noted that the near-identical language used by Brussels and Washington suggests that the EU, which is officially committed to 'de-risking but not decoupling' from China, is becoming increasingly sympathetic to America's tougher line. Read more. Brussels suspends US countermeasures despite lack of auto tariff relief. The Commission said on Monday that it will delay the imposition of retaliatory duties worth €93 billion on US goods despite Washington's failure to follow through on its pledge to slash auto levies from 27.5% to 15%. The reduction of US car duties is crucial for Europe's long-suffering auto industry, which is struggling to keep pace with increasingly fierce competition from Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers. The US accounts for more than a fifth of the EU's car exports, with €40 billion worth of autos shipped to America in 2024. Read more. The Economy Brief will be on pause for summer, returning from 29 August. (cp)
Euractiv
9 hours ago
- Euractiv
Germany suspends some weapon exports to Israel in response to Gaza decision
BERLIN – The German government suspended exports of all weapons that may be deployed by Israel in the Gaza Strip over the country's decision to extend its military operation in the region. Israel's security cabinet had greenlighted an operation to take control of the city of Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier stated that Israel would seek to occupy the entire territory. Three-quarters of the Palestinian enclave are said to be already under Israeli control. In light of the decision, Germany found it "increasingly difficult to see" how Israel's approach was still serving goals like self-defence against Hamas and the release of the hostages it took, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a statement on Friday. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he added. Merz also urged Israel to "continue to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza in a comprehensive and sustainable manner", while noting that some "positive steps" had been taken after European countries increased the pressure. The development marks the first time that the German government has officially imposed sanctions on Israel since the start of the country's military operation in the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip in October 2023. Berlin had previously taken a cautious approach on the matter, grounded in Germany's historical responsibility for the Holocaust. The government refused to support sanctions at the EU level, including the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Rumours that the previous German government had made weapons exports conditional on assurances from Israel that they would not be deployed in violation of international law were never officially confirmed. Germany is the second-largest supplier of major weapons to Israel, behind the US. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), it accounted for a third of all of Israel's major weapons imports between 2020 and 2024.
