12 hours ago
EU summit: ‘Like-minded' states should take action against Israel over Gaza, says Slovenian prime minister
Several 'like-minded' European countries should move ahead with their own sanctions against
Israel
if the
European Union
fails to agree to take action as a bloc, the prime minister of Slovenia has said.
Moves to get the EU to exert political leverage on Israel to end to its military campaign in Gaza are to be blocked during a summit of the EU's 27 leaders in Brussels.
Renewed focus has come on Europe's response to Israel's invasion of
Gaza
, which has levelled much of the besieged Palestinian territory and killed more than 55,000 Palestinians.
'It is high time that we do not show just solidarity, but we put some real pressure on the Israeli government,' Slovenian prime minister Robert Golob said.
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The EU could no longer 'preach' about the rule of law, 'due to our inadequate response to the atrocities happening in Gaza,' he said.
Spain
, Ireland,
Belgium
,
Slovenia
and others have been pushing for firmer action from the EU to pressure Israel to stop blocking humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza.
Some of the EU leaders in that camp have called for the suspension of an EU-Israel 'association agreement', which includes a free trade deal and access to research funding, or hardline Israeli ministers to be sanctioned.
Germany, Italy, Austria and others advocate for the EU to instead raise its concerns through diplomatic channels with Israel.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Golob said Slovenia and other 'link-minded' countries should move forward on their own, if the EU failed to agree to take action as a bloc in the next two weeks.
Spain's left-wing prime minister Pedro Sánchez said the EU had put together 18 packages of economic sanctions targeting Russia, since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The fact the bloc's trade deal with Israel had not been suspended pointed to 'double standards' in Europe, he said.
Suspending the EU-Israel agreement would not improve the situation for Palestinians in Gaza, said Austrian chancellor Christian Stocker, who spoke with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu before the summit.
'The civilian population must not pay the price for Hamas' terror. Netanyahu has pledged to step up all efforts in this direction so that humanitarian aid can be delivered,' he said.
The debate about Gaza is expected to be one of the most contentious parts of the EU summit, which will also cover the war in Ukraine, ongoing tariff negotiations involving the United States, the ceasefire between Iran and Israel and European defence spending.
A joint statement set to be signed off by all EU leaders criticises the 'dire humanitarian situation' in Gaza. A draft of the text hits out at the number of civilian casualties and the levels of starvation in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Separately, Hungary's far right prime minister Viktor Orban has said he will continue to block Ukraine moving forward in its bid to join the EU.
Brussels started what will be years-long negotiations with Kyiv last June, to consider accepting Ukraine into the 27-state bloc. However Hungary has since vetoed the process moving any further forward.
Speaking before the summit, Mr Orban said he did not want Ukraine to advance into more detailed accession talks, while it remained at war with Russia.
'If we integrate [Ukraine] into the European Union, we would integrate the war and we would not like to be together in a community with one country who is at war and represents an imminent danger,' the populist leader said.
