Pedro Sanchez’s government has emerged as one of the most critical voices of Israel within the European Union [Getty]
Spain, Slovenia and Ireland have called for discussions on the suspension of the EU’s association agreement with Israel, ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
In a joint letter to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, the three states requested that the agreement be discussed at the ministerial meeting, citing Israeli measures they say “contravene human rights and violate international law and international humanitarian law”.
They pointed in particular to a recently introduced Israeli law that would impose the death penalty exclusively on Palestinians, as well as the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, where continued ceasefire violations and an Israeli-imposed siege have further exacerbated conditions.
“I expect every European country to uphold what the International Court of Justice and the UN say on human rights and the defence of international law”, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said. “Anything different would be a defeat for the European Union”.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had already announced that Madrid would push for the pact’s suspension during a political rally in Andalusia on Sunday. He accused Israel of violating international law, arguing that it could no longer be “a partner of the European Union… it’s as simple as that”.
The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, with a 1995 agreement providing the legal and institutional framework for economic cooperation. Article 2 of the accord explicitly makes respect for human rights a prerequisite.
Sánchez has engaged in increasingly heated exchanges with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Spain formally recognised a Palestinian state in May 2024, accusing him of genocide and war crimes.
EU ‘chief of all cowards’
Spain and Ireland had previously called for a review of the EU-Israel agreement in 2024 over concerns about Israel’s conduct in Gaza, but the move failed to gain sufficient support among member states.
Despite mounting pressure to hold Israel accountable — particularly in light of its ongoing offensive in Lebanon and the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank — diplomats say there is still not enough backing within the EU to drive meaningful action.
EU officials told Euronews on Tuesday that divisions remain stark in Brussels, with key allies of Israel, including Germany and Italy, showing little sign of shifting their positions. Without consensus, the agreement cannot be suspended.
Amnesty International, which has long called for the suspension of the accord over Israel’s human rights record, accused the EU of complicity in war crimes.
Describing the EU as “the chief of all cowards”, Amnesty Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said that while the bloc stands firm against leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, “they fail to adopt the same standard vis-à-vis Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu”.
Speaking to The New Arab on the sidelines of a press conference presenting Amnesty’s annual human rights report on Monday, Callamard said the EU had failed to uphold its core values.
“They failed to hold on to the values at the heart of the European project. They failed to stop the military transfers to a genocidal government”, she said.
“That failure, for me, is the most damning indictment we can make of the European Union and its behaviour — and our European leaders, in their vast majority, have failed us and have failed our history”.
