More than six months on, the lack of a response from the European Commission to Ireland’s request for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement is deeply disappointing, MEP Maria Walsh has said.
MEP Maria Walsh has written to An Taoiseach Simon Harris requesting that he doubles down on the Irish Government’s request to President Ursula von der Leyen for a review of the Agreement which was worth €46 billion last year alone.
MEP Walsh is due to speak on this issue in the European Parliament today during a debate marking the one year anniversary since the October 7th terrorist attacks.
Maria Walsh, MEP for Midlands-North West, said:
“To my mind, Israel is in violation of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement governing trade and investment relations between the two. Article 2 provides that the Agreement “shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles”, and violation of such allows for the EU to terminate or suspend the policy.
“While the EU has provided humanitarian funding and the European Parliament has passed a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire, the lack of any tangible progress towards peace proves that these actions are nowhere near enough. The European Union must not continue business as usual while innocent civilians on all sides die.
“I am proud that An Taoiseach, and the Irish Government as a whole, has taken a strong, principled position on this issue – even when this has made us an outlier in Europe.
“In February, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar wrote to President Ursula von der Leyen, along with Prime Minister Sánchez, requesting a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. As far as I am aware, no response to this request has been received to date.
“It is disappointing that the Commission President has thus far ignored the urgent requests of EU Member States. It seems that we are no closer to this review now than we were six months ago.
“In support of the Irish Government’s request, the Fine Gael Delegation in the European Parliament last month sent a letter to President von der Leyen repeating the call for a review of the Agreement. To date, no response has been received to our request.
“As we mark a year of suffering across Israel and Palestine, and the emergence of another war in Lebanon, we need to ensure that this issue remains on the political agenda of the Commission President and of our new Commissioners.
“I have asked An Taoiseach to write to President von der Leyen to once again request a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. The EU has a significant economic lever at its disposal; failure to use it will be a failure to uphold our commitment to the protection of human lives.”
