Get behind EU plan to sanction Israeli trade, Kallas urges member states

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Get behind EU plan to sanction Israeli trade, Kallas urges member states  EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is urging EU member states to support proposals to suspend the trade part of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. The European Commission has published an option paper for the EU to reimpose duties on EU-Israel trade in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza.  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/09/16/get-behind-eu-plan-to-sanction-israeli-trade-kallas-urges-member-states  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00my guest this week on the europe conversation is eu foreign policy chief kaya callas i talked to

00:13her about the unprecedented step by the european commission to propose sanctioning trade with

00:18israel over its war in gaza she tells me how she's calling on germany and italy and other

00:23eu member states to support the measure eu foreign policy chief kaya callas thank you very much for

00:30joining us on the europe conversation thank you for having me now we have this unprecedented

00:35announcement by the european commission to suspend trade provisions within the eu israel association

00:41agreement i mean can you tell us a little bit more the details on this because of course it is

00:45unprecedented but the other question is will it pass amongst the member states well that is always

00:50the question remember in july i i gave the options to european council also the foreign ministers on

00:59what are the tools to really pressure israeli government to change course because if everybody

01:05agrees on the diagnosis then the question to us is what do we do about this and then now the

01:11proposals are on the table one of them is suspension of the trade part of the association agreement we

01:19have a trade of 42.6 billion euros with israel in to 2024 so it is a significant amount and when it

01:29comes to the preferential treatment then 37 percent of that trade really has the preferred preferential

01:36treatment so definitely this step will have a high cost for for israel now the question you posed is

01:44very correct so will it pass in the council so just to confirm 37 percent of 42 billion is what's on the

01:51table it's the preferential treatment under this association agreement so goods coming from israel

01:56will have duties applied to them yes okay and well one of the main countries blocking all of this

02:01because it's a qualified majority rather than a unanimous vote on this particular proposal is germany and it

02:07has been consistently for the last two years what do you say to the german government if it decides to block

02:14this again well we had very intensive discussions in the foreign affairs council about this and and my

02:22question to all counterparts because it's not only germany was that if you agree on the diagnosis that the

02:28situation is extremely grave the situation is disastrous and untenable then the question is what do we do about

02:37this if you don't support this measures then what measures can you support bring alternatives at the

02:45same time i mean germany has done a step when it comes to halting arms deliveries to israel which is a

02:53significant step also from germany's side and and considering their public opinion it has been difficult

03:00for them as well well announcement today well we've seen this gaza ground offensive we've also seen in the

03:06last week or so at the international association of genocide scholars saying that what's happening in gaza is a

03:11genocide the un committee saying the same thing of course israel will say that this is a response

03:16to october 7th hamas attack and they're going after hamas but what is your impression of the situation in gaza

03:23well the gaza offensive will just bring more destruction devastation and and also loss of civilian lives

03:31uh we don't see that it has a real result i mean the result has to be uh ceasefire agreed by by the

03:39parties and and release of all hostages and and therefore uh you know we are also supporting all the

03:46efforts uh in regarding uh that and we know it's for the courts to decide if a genocide is taking place

03:51but what's your own impression given these organizations that are coming out and saying that a genocide is

03:58happening and that the genocide convention itself says that everybody has a positive obligation

04:03to prevent genocide no of course that's why we have been also agreeing with israel on the humanitarian

04:10understanding to to really uh prevent all these atrocities happening to really help the people on the

04:17ground you think it might be a genocide well it doesn't uh it doesn't really uh matter what i think

04:23because as you said accountability comes from the courts and and the international law so these

04:31institutions have stated that these this is the analysis and of course it's up to the course to

04:36decide what is the uh really uh accountability for that okay you made an agreement with israel just

04:42earlier in the summer to substantially increase the amount of humanitarian aid uh border crossings and so

04:48on or crossings to allow more trucks come in but that has not materialized not in the way that it was

04:53agreed because you must be seriously disappointed because at one point there was hope that some

04:58people could be saved but in actual fact days after moments after that agreement was signed or it wasn't

05:04even signed or was agreed and we saw children being killed at humanitarian sites trying to get water

05:10yeah no um this uh this has been very very difficult as as we have been trying to do what we can to

05:19improve the situation on the ground now the understanding that we had had many elements i mean more

05:26trucks getting in before july it was zero trucks getting in with humanitarian aid after that we had

05:32all together over 2090 something trucks getting in so it's more than zero but it's not enough i agree with

05:39you also the reparation of critical infrastructure the water desalination the water coming into gaza also

05:49opening of the border crossings and and the roots of of jordan and egypt so we we saw the the implementation

05:58of that but still i mean it was not enough and at the same time the actions of of really shooting at

06:05the people in the line of of getting humanitarian aid i mean that does not go in in the right direction

06:13and that's why we are trying to put the pressure on israeli government to change the course and there

06:17was zero trucks coming into gaza i mean like literally no food coming in no baby formula no

06:23nothing before july after that yes there was more and israel also attacked in qatar hamas leaders amid

06:31these hostage negotiations peace negotiations even israel's greatest ally the united states has been

06:37very critical of that i mean what does that do for the chance of ending the situation well we see that

06:44there is no military solution to that conflict otherwise it would have been already achieved

06:50if if you look at this what is going on in in in gaza so so we really support all the diplomatic

06:59efforts to achieve ceasefire and also the release of hostages unfortunately we are not there and we've

07:06heard from the spanish prime minister pedro sanchez that israel needs to be essentially frozen out from all

07:11sporting and cultural events we've seen some countries the netherlands ireland and so on saying

07:16that they won't attend the eurovision if israel is allowed to do that what's your own opinion about

07:20that freezing out of israel a bit like the way south africa was during the apartheid era yeah well

07:28it's also uh what uh what should be uh with uh with the russian athletes and has been also the steps

07:35that have been taken i mean this is clearly giving the messages of of the international isolation that

07:42you know the public of different countries of those countries is not supportive of what israeli

07:49government is doing what i want to really stress is that we also see the manifestations in israel it's

07:58it's not the israeli people but it's the israeli government that has taken such actions that are

08:03creating also uh the the uh in the situation in our public opinion to go against this and do you

08:12think that they could be branded or there's something anti-semitic about this approach though

08:17to freeze israelis out um this is uh this is of course uh the accusation on on the other side

08:25and that's why i want to keep the clear distinction that it's it's not all the steps that we are also

08:31doing on the european level it's not against the israeli people um it's it's uh to change the

08:38pressure the israeli government to change course now from a ukrainian point of view we had those 19

08:44drone incursions into poland we also had one last night of the presidential palace and really the

08:50feeling is that putin is no longer risk averse when he's doing things like this yeah no putin is

08:55clearly testing the west how far he can go and now it's up to us uh what is our response and how

09:01strong that is how far we let them what we have to keep in mind is that uh putin also wants to sow

09:09fear inside our societies so that our governments would refrain from supporting ukraine because you

09:16know saying that you know you don't want this war here so don't support ukraine let the russians

09:21have what they want but this is a wrong approach because this is exactly what russians want that

09:27they will get and the aggression will pay off they will get what they want in ukraine

09:33and then we are all in danger i think we have to keep that in mind but he's also trying to pinpoint

09:38the difference in nato between the united states approach and the european approach as well and

09:42that is that's obviously concerning is it absolutely and that's why our response should be unity

09:48because he wants to divide us that's very clear he wants to divide us in the transatlantic relationship

09:54but also divide us i mean in europe because when we are divided we are weaker that's very clear so our

10:01response should be that we are not letting him do that but isn't he right though i mean the united

10:06states hasn't applied any sanctions in trump administration on russia any sort of the um threats

10:12against russia around ceasefires around impacts of not having a ceasefire they haven't materialized

10:18donald trump has not done anything and there's no sign of any security guarantees uh well uh yes if we

10:24if we look at the peace efforts that president trump has done i mean putin is just mocking all those

10:30efforts i mean if you think about the the meetings in alaska what happened afterwards is just putin

10:36increased its attacks it was the biggest ever aerial attack against ukraine now incursion against poland it

10:43should give us all a very clear understanding what we are up against and and we are of course in contact

10:50with our transatlantic partners to have the unity and and cooperate also regarding sanctions because

10:57if we want this war to stop then we should put the pressure on the one who actually wants war which is

11:03russia and what if this happens again more incursions especially particularly because the expensive nature of

11:09trying to shoot these downs is massive for poland and nato these small drones which are inexpensive

11:15costing huge amounts to defend european territory and that's why we have put forward the drone wallet

11:21idea so that it doesn't actually cost that much you have the the sensors so that you can get

11:28information whether drones are coming plus you have the interceptor drones so the drone wall so to say

11:34drone to take down drones and that doesn't cost that much and and we have proposed that and i yesterday

11:41was in nato talking to sakur also how we can cooperate regarding this because our interests are very

11:50much aligned okay eu foreign policy chief kaya callas thank you very much for joining us on the europe

11:54conversation thank you

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