The European Union is considering imposing sanctions on Israeli settlers occupying the West Bank. Minister João Gomes Cravinho stated in Brussels on Monday that “no state is against the proposal”.
“From now on, work will begin on a package of sanctions against settlers in the West Bank, which has at least benefited from complacency, if not even some complicity, on the part of the Israeli military,” he said. The minister emphasized that at this afternoon’s meeting “no state raised any objection” to the topic which was “raised in an abstract manner [e] general”.
Recalling that the government had already announced its intention to put the issue on the table, which is why the existence of settlements in the West Bank “calls into question the foundations of the two-state solution,” Cravinho revealed that “ High Representative Borrell himself has raised the question of the need to impose sanctions on settlers who have illegally occupied areas in the West Bank from the start.”
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, it means the 40,000 civil servants who work, or have worked under the authority of Hamas,” João Gomes Cravinho wondered, revealing that “the consensus was that we are talking about Hamas’ military capacity.”
Stop the fire
Foreign ministers also discussed the proposal of António Guterres, who defended the end of hostilities at the United Nations. The minister does not hide his surprise that the European Union “has difficulty” supporting a proposal from the UN Secretary General. But “Germany hesitated.”
“Germany believes that more time is needed to think, although it seems strange to me that the European Union has some difficulty in supporting the Secretary General of the United Nations, but because we work with the rule of unanimity , we will express our support with many other states of the European Union,” Cravinho said.
“It continues to amaze me that there was a country that felt that it was still necessary to think more, to reflect more, to discuss more about whether we should express our support for the Secretary General of the United Nations “, emphasized João Gomes Cravinho. , adding that “it is still stated that 26 countries had no problems with this proposal”.
Ukraine
The foreign ministers also discussed the two issues that remain to be resolved regarding Ukraine: approving a plan to start talks on joining the European Union and approving the disbursement of 50 billion euros in aid to Kiev.
In preparation for the discussion for the summit, which will take place later this week, on December 14 and 15, the minister stated that “it is mainly Hungary” that maintains reservations about the proposal to support Ukraine.
Following the discussion on Hungary, João Gomes Cravinho also said that the European Union has the twelfth package of sanctions against Moscow at an advanced stage. “We are almost there and my expectation is that a consensus can be reached before the European Council.”
“The matter will – I hope – not have to be submitted to the Heads of State or Government,” he declared, convinced that also “with regard to the convenience [financeira] to support Ukraine, then I believe it will happen.”
Source: DN
