The two sides have to agree on an agenda of the EU-Israel Association Council while the 27 EU member states have to come up with a common position of the talks.

Israel  wants to convene a regular meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council when Hungary will take over from Belgium the EU presidency of the EU Council of Ministers in the second half of this year.

 

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has confirmed that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz agreed to attend a meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council but the two sides have first to agree on an agenda and the EU has to come with a common position of all 27 member states. ‘’This will not be a business as usual’’ Association Council. We are not going to discuss the Erasmus implementation. It is clear that we have very grave topics to put on the table,’’ Borrell told reporters after a meeting Monday in Luxembourg of the 27 EU Foreign Ministers.

He added, ‘’I announced to the Member States that they will receive an assessment of the situation in Gaza and in the West Bank, gathering together, compiling all the information that United Nations agencies have been issuing in the last days or weeks, or even months, about the situation and the humanitarian crisis, and the responsibilities that the United Nations have been denouncing, and in particular in the last report produced by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Volker Türk.’’

Borrell stressed that the EU-Israel Association Council ‘’is managed from the European Union side by the High Representative, not by the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union,’’ a reference to reports last week that Israel was waiting that Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the EU Council of Ministers in July before attending the meeting.  Hungary is one of Israel’s best friends in the EU having several times blocked anti-Israel votes in the Foreign Affairs Council.

Earlier this month, the 27 EU member states agreed to invite Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz to attend an ‘’ad-hoc’’ meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council to discuss the situation in Gaza and the country’s ’’compliance with human rights obligations’’ under Israel’s Association Agreement with the EU.

Israel responded last week to the EU’s invitation by saying that Israel “is willing to consider” it but not as an ‘’ad-hoc summit’’ meeting. Jerusalem also wants ‘’to negotiate the agenda.’’ The distance between the parties on the agenda reportedly persists.

Instead of an ‘’ad-hoc’’ meeting, Israel wants to convene a regular meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council when Hungary will take over from Belgium the EU presidency of the EU Council of Ministers in the second half of this year.

The EU-Israel Association Council is the highes-level political body of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. It is composed of the Israeli Foreign Minister and his EU counterparts and discusses all topics of bilateral EU-Israel relations. The Council convened in October 2022 in Brussels after a hiatus of ten years due to disagreements on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

In its response, Israel did not give any indication on the date of an Association Council.

At his press conference on Monday, Borrell affirmed that the humanitarian situation in Gaza ‘’is just disastrous.’’

‘’The well-respected Cindy McCain, the director of the World Food Programme, has said it loud and clear: there is no progress at all on the humanitarian support entering into Gaza.  Hostages are still being held, thousands of trucks are waiting to enter into Gaza. In the meantime, inside, the famine is looming. More than 8,000 children below five years old are facing severe malnutrition. There is no point to continue sending more food to the border, if they cannot come into Gaza,” he said.