00:00Germany will reach a decision on whether to back sanctions against Israel
00:04before a European Union meeting in Copenhagen on October 1st.
00:08Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Israel's actions in Gaza were not proportional to its stated goals
00:14but said Germany did not share the view that the actions amounted to genocide.
00:20He added that for Germany, the recognition of Palestinian statehood was not currently up for debate.
00:30We will now find questions, which are now on the European level to answer, in the next few days.
00:35We will have in the next week a full session of the German Bundestages in Berlin.
00:40We are then all in Berlin.
00:42That means we will be in the next week on the Ebene of the Bundeskabinets
00:47to talk about these questions together.
00:49And I will say that we will then have a position in the informellment of the 1. Oktober in Copenhagen,
00:58which will also be carried out by the whole Bundesregierung.
01:01Asked to comment on the future combat air system FCAS fighter jet programme,
01:07Merz said the current situation was unsatisfactory.
01:10Merz had agreed with French President Emmanuel Macron in late August
01:13to take a decision on the future of the Franco-German programme by the end of the year.
01:18Berlin blames French industry for blocking the next phase in the development of the FCAS programme,
01:23estimated to cost more than 100 billion euros by demanding sole leadership of the project.
01:29Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Thursday Spain supported the EU Commission's
01:41proposal to free straight agreements on Israel.
01:44During a press conference after meeting with the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Madrid,
01:48Sánchez said that his country's interest in Israel's actions in Gaza
01:52stemmed from geopolitical and human rights concerns.
01:55In relation to the proposal of the President of the European Commission,
02:00the position of the Government of Spain is clear.
02:04We are of agreement.
02:06We have, in fact, since more than a year,
02:09solicitating to the European Commission
02:11that suspend the agreement of the estratégical agreement between the European Union and Israel
02:17for understanding that one of the most important articles was violated,
02:21which is the article of respecting the international human rights by the government of Israel.
02:27He added that Spain had faced what he called terrorist attacks in the past
02:30and criticised the strategies such employed by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to combat these threats.
02:37The meeting between Sánchez and Merz additionally focused on topics including solar energy initiatives
02:42and the European Future Combat Assistance FCAS fighter jet project.
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