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Spain asks the EU for more measures against Israel and to protect the two-state solution

by AI | 24.Feb 2025 | Europe in brief AI

The meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers takes place one year after the leaders of Spain and Ireland called on the EU to examine whether Israel has violated its human rights obligations under the Association Agreement.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, during a press conference after a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, at the Viana Palace, on February 17, 2025, in Madrid (Spain). Photo: Eduardo Parra / Europa Press

Brussels – The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, announced this Monday that Spain will ask the European Union for more measures against violent Israeli settlers, support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and to clarify human rights violations in Gaza within the framework of the Association Council with Israel.

Speaking to the press before the meeting of EU foreign ministers, which will be followed by an Association Council meeting with Israel, Albares advocated for adopting “new measures” against violent settlers and “against all those who want to harm the two-state solution.”

“Effective measures must be taken to protect this two-state solution and the existence, as soon as possible, of a realistic and viable State of Palestine,” he assured from Brussels, where he hopes the 27 will address the situation in Gaza with his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar.

The meeting takes place a year after leaders of Spain and Ireland demanded that the EU study whether Israel has violated its human rights obligations within the framework of the Association Agreement and proceed to take measures, including suspension, without any progress having been made and the request losing momentum.

In any case, on the Association Council’s table is a common EU position, which Israel does not subscribe to, in which member states put their demands in writing concerning the crisis in the Middle East, particularly those related to humanitarian access to the Strip and the future of Palestinian territory as part of the two-state solution.

Albares has advanced that he will advocate at the meeting that “Gaza is the land of the Gazans and that it must be part of the future Palestinian state,” as well as support for the Palestinian Authority as a “partner for peace” in the region.

For Spain, the EU must use the meeting to reiterate “clearly” that “it will never recognize the unilateral annexation of the West Bank or Gaza.” Spain argues that the meeting with the Israeli minister should not be just another ordinary meeting and that the situation in Gaza should be addressed, pointing out that “there must be clarity with the facts.”

According to the Foreign Minister, the agenda and the prior meeting with UNRWA’s general commissioner, Philippe Lazzarini, are proof that the meeting with Israel “is not just another Council.”

“There are groups such as human rights defenders, journalists, NGO members, United Nations members, UNRWA members who have perished under Israeli bombs in Gaza and this cannot go without being clarified,” he stated, also insisting that Israel respects international justice decisions.

Meanwhile, the Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Harris, insisted that the European Commission could advance the funds provided for UNRWA’s annual budget, warning that any delay will have negative effects on the ground.

For Harris, the meeting must serve to maintain pressure on urgent issues such as consolidating the ceasefire, ensuring humanitarian flow to the Strip, and respecting the role of UNRWA. He also emphasized that the common EU position involves support for the two-state solution and ensuring respect for international law. (February 24)