Kallas ruft Mitgliedstaaten zur Unterstützung von EU-Handelssanktionen gegen Israel auf
Die EU-Außenbeauftragte Kaja Kallas fordert die Mitgliedstaaten auf, den Vorschlag zur Aussetzung des Handelsteils des Assoziierungsabkommens zwischen der EU und Israel zu billigen.
LESEN SIE MEHR : http://de.euronews.com/2025/09/19/kallas-ruft-mitgliedstaaten-zur-unterstutzung-von-eu-handelssanktionen-gegen-israel-auf
00:00My guest this week on the Europe Conversation is EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaya Kallis.
00:12I talked to her about the unprecedented step by the European Commission
00:15to propose sanctioning trade with Israel over its war in Gaza.
00:20She tells me how she's calling on Germany and Italy and other EU member states to support the measure.
00:25EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaya Kallis, thank you very much for joining us on the Europe Conversation.
00:31Thank you for having me.
00:33Now we have this unprecedented announcement by the European Commission
00:36to suspend trade provisions within the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
00:40Can you tell us a little bit more of the details on this?
00:43Because of course it is unprecedented, but the other question is, will it pass amongst the member states?
00:48Well, that is always the question.
00:50Remember in July I gave the options to the European Council, also the foreign ministers,
00:57what are the tools to really pressure the Israeli government to change course?
01:02Because if everybody agrees on the diagnosis, then the question to us is, what do we do about this?
01:08And then now the proposals are on the table.
01:12One of them is the suspension of the trade part of the association agreement.
01:18We have a trade of 42.6 billion euros with Israel in 2024.
01:25So it is a significant amount.
01:28And when it comes to the preferential treatment, then 37% of that trade really has the preferential treatment.
01:36So definitely this step will have a high cost for Israel.
01:41Now the question you posed is very correct.
01:44Will it pass in the Council?
01:46So just to confirm, 37% of 42 billion is what is on the table?
01:50It is the preferential treatment under this association agreement.
01:54So goods coming from Israel will have duties applied to them?
01:57Yes.
01:58Well, one of the main countries blocking all of this, because it is a qualified majority rather than a unanimous vote on this particular proposal, is Germany.
02:07And it has been consistently for the last two years.
02:11What do you say to the German government if it decides to block this again?
02:14Well, we had very intensive discussions in the Foreign Affairs Council about this.
02:20And my question to all counterparts, because it is 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?
02:37If you do not support these measures, then what measures can you support? Bring alternatives.
02:44At the same time, I mean, Germany has done a step when it comes to halting arms deliveries to Israel, which is a significant step also from Germany's side.
02:56And considering their public opinion, it has been difficult for them as well.
03:00Well, the announcement today, well, we've seen this Gaza ground offensive.
03:04We've also seen in the last week or so, the International Association of Genocide Scholars saying that what's happening in Gaza is a genocide.
03:11The UN committee saying the same thing, of course, Israel will say that this is a response to October 7th Hamas attack and they're going after Hamas.
03:19But what is your impression of the situation in Gaza?
03:23Well, the Gaza offensive will just bring more destruction, devastation and also loss of civilian lives.
03:31We don't see that it has a real result.
03:34I mean, the result has to be a ceasefire agreed by the parties and release of all hostages.
03:41And therefore, you know, we are also supporting all the efforts in regarding that.
03:47And we know it's for the courts to decide if a genocide is taking place.
03:50But what's your own impression, given these organizations that are coming out and saying that a genocide is happening and that the genocide convention itself says that everybody has a positive obligation to prevent genocide?
04:03No, of course, that's why we have been also agreeing with Israel on the humanitarian understanding to really prevent all these atrocities happening, to really help the people on the ground.
04:16Do you think it might be a genocide?
04:18Well, it doesn't really matter what I think because, as you said, accountability comes from the courts and the international law.
04:28So these institutions have stated that this is the analysis and, of course, it's up to the courts to decide what is the accountability for that.
04:39Okay, you made an agreement with Israel just earlier in the summer to substantially increase the amount of humanitarian aid, border crossings and so on, or crossings to allow more trucks come in.
04:49But that has not materialized, not in the way that it was agreed, because you must be seriously disappointed because at one point there was hope that some people could be saved.
04:59But in actual fact, days after, moments after that agreement was signed, or it wasn't even signed or was agreed, we saw children being killed at humanitarian sites trying to get water.
05:09Yeah.
05:10No, this has been very, very difficult as we have been trying to do what we can to improve the situation on the ground.
05:21Now, the understanding that we had, had many elements.
05:25I mean, more trucks getting in.
05:26Before July, it was zero trucks getting in with humanitarian aid.
05:30After that, we had altogether over 2,090 something trucks getting in.
05:36So it's more than zero, but it's not enough, I agree with you.
05:39Also, the reparation of critical infrastructure, the water desalination, the water coming into Gaza, also opening of the border crossings and the routes of Jordan and Egypt.
05:54So we saw the implementation of that, but still, I mean, it was not enough.
06:01And at the same time, the actions of really shooting at the people in the line of getting humanitarian aid, I mean, that does not go in the right direction.
06:12And that's why we are trying to put the pressure on the Israeli government to change the course.
06:16And there was zero trucks coming into Gaza.
06:18I mean, like, literally no food coming in, no baby formula, no nothing.
06:23Before July, after that, yes, there was more.
06:27Israel also attacked in Qatar Hamas leaders amid these hostage negotiations, peace negotiations.
06:34Even Israel's greatest ally, the United States, has been very critical of that.
06:38I mean, what does that do for the chance of ending the situation?
06:42Well, we see that there is no military solution to that conflict.
06:47Otherwise, it would have been already achieved if we look at this, what is going on in Gaza.
06:54So we really support all the diplomatic efforts to achieve ceasefire and also the release of hostages.
07:02Unfortunately, we are not there.
07:05And we've heard from the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez that Israel needs to be essentially frozen out from all sporting and cultural events.
07:12We've seen some countries, the Netherlands, Ireland and so on, saying that they won't attend the Eurovision if Israel is allowed to do that.
07:18What's your own opinion about that freezing out of Israel, a bit like the way South Africa was during the apartheid era?
07:25Well, it's also what should be with the Russian athletes and has been also the steps that have been taken.
07:36I mean, this is clearly giving the messages of the international isolation that, you know, the public of different countries, of those countries, is not supportive of what the Israeli government is doing.
07:50What I want to really stress is that we also see the manifestations in Israel.
07:57It's not the Israeli people, but it's the Israeli government that has taken such actions that are creating also the situation in our public opinion to go against this.
08:11Do you think that they could be branded or there's something anti-Semitic about this approach, though, to freeze Israelis out?
08:18This is, of course, the accusation on the other side.
08:23And that's why I want to keep the clear distinction that it's not all the steps that we are also doing on the European level.
08:31It's not against the Israeli people.
08:33It's to change the pressure the Israeli government to change course.
08:40Now, from a Ukrainian point of view, we had those 19 drone incursions into Poland.
08:45We also had one last night of the presidential palace.
08:47And really, the feeling is that Putin is no longer risk averse when he's doing things like this.
08:53Yeah.
08:54No, Putin is clearly testing the West how far he can go.
08:58And now it's up to us what is our response and how strong that is, how far we let them.
09:03What we have to keep in mind is that Putin also wants to sow fear inside our societies so that our governments would refrain from supporting Ukraine.
09:15Because, you know, saying that, you know, you don't want this war here, so don't support Ukraine, let the Russians have what they want.
09:22But this is a wrong approach because this is exactly what Russians want, that they will get and the aggression will pay off.
09:30They will get what they want in Ukraine.
09:32And then we are all in danger.
09:34I think we have to keep that in mind.
09:36But he's also trying to pinpoint the difference in NATO between the United States approach and the European approach as well.
09:41And that is, that's obviously concerning, is it?
09:43Absolutely.
09:44And that's why our response should be unity, because he wants to divide us.
09:49That's very clear.
09:50He wants to divide us in the transatlantic relationship, but also divide us, I mean, in Europe.
09:56Because when we are divided, we are weaker.
09:59That's very clear.
10:00So our response should be that we are not letting him do that.
10:03But isn't he right, though?
10:04I mean, the United States hasn't applied any sanctions in Trump's administration on Russia.
10:09Any sort of the threats against Russia around ceasefires, around impacts of not having a ceasefire, they haven't materialized.
10:17Donald Trump has not done anything, and there's no sign of any security guarantees.
10:20Well, yes.
10:22If we look at the peace efforts that President Trump has done, I mean, Putin is just mocking all those efforts.
10:29I mean, if you think about the meetings in Alaska, what happened afterwards is just Putin increased its attacks.
10:36It was the biggest ever aerial attack against Ukraine, now incursion against Poland.
10:42It should give us all a very clear understanding what we are up against, and we are, of course, in contact with our transatlantic partners to have the unity and cooperate also regarding sanctions.
10:56Because if we want this war to stop, then we should put the pressure on the one who actually wants war, which is Russia.
11:03And what if this happens again, more incursions, particularly because the expensive nature of trying to shoot these down is massive for Poland and NATO.
11:12These small drones, which are inexpensive, costing huge amounts to defend European territory.
11:17And that's why we have put forward the drone wall idea, so that it doesn't actually cost that much.
11:24You have the sensors so that you can get information whether drones are coming, plus you have the interceptor drones, so the drone wall, so to say, drone to take down drones.
11:35And that doesn't cost that much, and we have proposed that.
11:39And I yesterday was in NATO talking to SAKUR also how we can cooperate regarding this, because our interests are very much aligned.
11:49Okay, EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaya Callas, thank you very much for joining us on the Europe Conversation.
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