by Ailin Vilches Arguello
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas speaks to the media on the day of the European Union Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
The European Union is preparing to scrutinize its longstanding association agreement with Israel after more than 1.1 million citizens backed a petition demanding its review, marking a new front in growing efforts to boycott and economically isolate the Jewish state.
The European Commission, the EU’s main executive body, announced in a Thursday press release that EU members would meet with the petition’s organizers in the coming weeks, ahead of a public hearing at the European Parliament that will bring calls to suspend ties with Israel into the bloc’s formal political process.
Signed in 1995 and taking effect in 2000, the EU-Israel Association Agreement provides the legal basis for economic and political cooperation between the two sides, establishing a framework for trade and other bilateral ties while allowing Israeli goods to enter European markets under preferential conditions, including reduced or eliminated tariffs on many industrial and agricultural exports.
The European Commission is now expected to face mounting pressure to address the petition, with a formal response due by May 2027 outlining whether it intends to take action, as anti-Israel campaigners continue pushing to dismantle the EU’s economic and political ties with Jerusalem.
However, suspending the agreement would be far from straightforward. The European Commission can examine the petition and outline possible measures, but it cannot unilaterally sever the bloc’s ties with Israel.
Any suspension would require action by EU member states, whose governments remain divided over how far the bloc should go in its response to Israel. Reaching the political agreement then needed to move forward is unlikely to happen.
Under the EU Citizens’ Initiative mechanism, petitions must secure at least 1 million signatures from citizens in a minimum of seven member states to qualify for formal consideration by the European Commission — a threshold reached by just 14 of the 136 initiatives registered over the past decade.
Brought forward by the European Left Alliance, an umbrella organization representing 11 left-wing political parties, the nearly two-year-old petition calls on the EU to suspend its trade ties and political dialogue with Israel, accusing the country of failing to prevent what its organizers describe as “genocide” in Gaza.
To suspend the 25-year-old EU-Israel Association Agreement would put at risk not only trade and economic cooperation but also academic and cultural exchanges, joint research projects, university partnerships, educational programs, and access to European research funding.
The potential consequences could extend into scientific innovation and cultural diplomacy, isolating Israeli researchers, students, and artists from longstanding international networks.
International criticism and pressure on Israel stem in part from settlement construction in the West Bank — land Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state and which most of the international community considers a violation of international law.
Israel disputes claims that the settlements are illegal, pointing to historical and legal ties to the land as well as arguing they provide strategic depth and security considerations.
Pressure has also mounted over Israel’s defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, with several countries accusing the Jewish state of “genocide” — a charge Israel vehemently rejects, maintaining that its operations are aimed at dismantling the terrorist group and preventing further attacks on Israeli civilians.
