A citizens’ initiative calling for the full suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement reached 1.1 million signatures in three months, its organisers said, making it the fastest European citizens’ initiative to hit the required threshold. The European Left alliance submitted the petition to the European Commission on Thursday, 12 November.
The initiative was launched in January and brought together civil society groups, Palestinian-led movements and other citizens. Organisers marked the milestone with a rally outside the Berlaymont in Brussels, where French MEP Manon Aubry, co-chair of the Left, urged EU institutions to respond. “To all EU institutions, democracy is asking you to act,” she told the crowd.
Under European citizens’ initiative rules, the Commission has six months to present its response. The EU-Israel association agreement, in force since 2000, is the principal legal framework for trade, cooperation and political dialogue between the two sides.
Suspending the agreement has been a central proposal for putting pressure on the EU’s relationship with Israel. Another measure under discussion is a ban on imports from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. The source article says member states including Germany have continued to veto the process, leaving the Commission unable to act on what it describes as Israel’s ongoing human rights breaches in Palestine.
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