The European Union is considering sanctions on Israeli settlers occupying the West Bank. Minister João Gomes Cravinho stated, this Monday, in Brussels, that “no State opposes” the proposal.
“From now on, work will begin on the definition of a package of sanctions against settlers in the West Bank, which, by the way, has benefited, at the very least, from complacency, if not some collusion, on the part of the Israel Defense Forces.”, stated the minister, highlighting that, at this afternoon’s meeting, “no State opposed” the issue that was “raised in an abstract manner [e] generic”.
Recalling that the government had already announced its intention to put the issue on the table, so the existence of settlements in the West Bank “calls into question the very foundations of the two-state solution”, Cravinho revealed that “it was The High Representative himself Borrell, who raised from the beginning the issue of the need to impose sanctions on settlers illegally occupying territories in the West Bank.”
The minister also reported “unanimous support” for the European Union to work on a sanctions package against Hamas. “There was a discussion about what this means, Hamas, it means only the military wing, that is, the 40,000 public servants who work under the authority of Hamas, or who have worked,” questioned João Gomes Cravinho, revealing that “the consensus was that we are talking about the military capacity of Hamas.”
Stop the fire
The Foreign Ministers also discussed the proposal of António Guterres who, at the United Nations, defended the end of hostilities. The Minister does not hide his surprise because the European Union “has difficulties” in supporting a proposal from the UN Secretary General. But “Germany hesitated.”
“Germany considers that more time is needed to reflect, although I find it strange that the European Union has some difficulties in supporting the Secretary-General of the United Nations, but since we work with the rule of unanimity, we will express our support with many other states of the European Union,” said Cravinho.
“It never ceases to surprise me that there is a country that has felt that it is still necessary to think more, reflect more, discuss more about whether we should express our support for the Secretary General of the United Nations,” highlighted João Gomes Cravinho, adding that “there is evidence of that 26 countries had no difficulties with this proposal”.
Ukraine
The foreign ministers also discussed the two issues that remain to be resolved in relation to Ukraine: approving a plan to start talks on accession to the European Union and approving the disbursement of €50 billion in aid to kyiv.
Preparing the debate for the summit, which will take place later this week, on December 14 and 15, the Minister stated that “it is above all Hungary” that maintains reservations about the proposal to support Ukraine.
After the conversation about Hungary, João Gomes Cravinho also stated that the European Union has the twelfth package of sanctions against Moscow in an advanced stage. “We are almost there and my expectation is that a consensus can be reached before the European Council.”
“The matter, I hope, will not have to be taken to the Heads of State and Government,” he stated, convinced that also “in relation to the ease [financeira] support Ukraine, then I think it will happen.”
Source: TSF
