Spain, one of the EU's most forceful voices against Netanyahu

BrusselsSpain, along with Ireland, was the first country to formally request a review of the European Union's association agreement with Israel. It has been one of the member states seeking the most sanctions against Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and, especially since the start of the Gaza war, has emerged as one of the European club's most vocal voices against Tel Aviv. The battery of restrictions on Israel announced this Monday by Pedro Sánchez confirms this, as does the fact that he openly describes the war in Gaza as "genocide." However, his demands have often come to nothing in the corridors of Brussels, and the EU has only applied very timid measures of pressure on the Israeli executive.

At this point, the European Union as a whole has applied almost no form of punishment against the Netanyahu government and has only frozen a portion of the European Horizon funds, which finance scientific research and innovation projects, and from which Israel also benefits. Finally, it also decided to add personalities and entities from the violent settlers of the West Bank to the blacklist, as the Spanish government had long requested.

However, The EU maintains the association agreement with Israel, to which it gives priority in political dialogue and trade relations. Thus, it did not break or freeze this pact despite the European Commission's investigation, which noted "indications" that the Israeli army was violating human rights in Gaza, which violated one of the conditions of the agreement itself. In fact, the EU reviewed the pact—as Spain unsuccessfully requested—at the request of the Netherlands, and a qualified majority of countries joined, but the vast majority only saw it as an act of pressure on Netanyahu and had no real intention of ultimately sanctioning him.

However, since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, the European Union has increasingly moved closer to pro-Palestinian positions, such as that of the Sánchez government. Although so far, the blog has applied only minimal restrictions. Regarding each European country individually, more and more state governments are recognizing the Palestinian state. Last year, Spain, Slovenia, Ireland, and Norway (which is not in the EU) took the step. France, Malta, and Belgium will also recognize it this year; and Portugal, Finland, Luxembourg, and, outside the EU, the United Kingdom are considering it.

States such as Slovenia, the Netherlands, and Belgium have also applied individual sanctions against members of Netanyahu's government, and have imposed restrictions on violent settlers in the West Bank or even declared Israeli ministers to be persons. non grataAs for Germany, which is one of the most pro-Israel countries in the EU and always stalls on sanctions, it is also showing signs of fatigue with Tel Aviv.

Borrell and Ribera, the most pro-Palestinian leaders

Both Josep Borrell, when he headed European diplomacy in the previous term, and Teresa Ribera, as First Vice-President of the European Commission, were great counterweights to the most pro-Israeli leaders. Among those closest to Tel Aviv are the President of the European Commission, the German conservative Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Parliament, the conservative Roberta Metsola. In this regard, the Catalan leader left office proposing breaking the EU's association agreement with Israel, and Ribera last week broke the EU-consensus script and called the Gaza war a "genocide," a word whose superior, Von der Leyen, always avoids using.