00:00The European Commission is proposing to impose duties on products coming from Israel, as a response to the war in Gaza.
00:09In an interview with Euronews, EU High Representative Kaya Callas explained the details of the proposal she is putting on the table this Wednesday.
00:18One of them is the suspension of the trade part of the association agreement. We have a trade of 42.6 billion euros with Israel in 2024.
00:31So it is a significant amount and when it comes to the preferential treatment then 37% of that trade really has the preferential treatment.
00:42So definitely this step will have a high cost for Israel.
00:47So just to confirm, 37% of 42 billion is what's on the table?
00:52It's the preferential treatment under this association group.
00:56So goods coming from Israel will have duties applied to them?
00:59Yes.
01:00This proposal requires backing from a qualified majority of member states, meaning it needs the support of a major country like Germany or Italy to succeed.
01:09Both have previously blocked all EU proposals against Israel, but Callas is calling on them to back this one.
01:18One of the things that I would say to all counterparts, because it's not only Germany, was that if you agree on the diagnosis that the situation is extremely grave, the situation is disastrous and untenable, then the question is what do we do about this?
01:33If you don't support these measures, then what measures can you support? Bring alternatives.
01:40For Callas, the EU does have quite a lot of weight over Israel as it is the country's largest trading partner.
01:46Okay.
01:47You can listen to the full interview on the Europe Conversation.
01:50I mean...
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