Spain will propose that the EU suspend the Association Agreement with Israel

Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez announced that Spain will formally submit a proposal to the EU on Tuesday (April 21st) to terminate the Association Agreement with Israel.

Xinhua News Agency reported that previously, the Spanish side had repeatedly called on the EU to review or suspend this agreement. On April 10th, Sanchez pointed out that the EU should take action to restrain the Israeli government and called for suspending the EU's association agreement with Israel.

Sanchez said that Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and other places "flagrantly violate" international humanitarian law. Europe must act in unison to prevent Lebanon from "repeating the same mistakes as Gaza".

In 2000, the European Union and Israel signed the "EU-Israel Association Agreement", aiming to provide a legal and institutional framework for political dialogue and economic cooperation between the two sides. If the European Union were to suspend this agreement, it would mean that trade preferences, scientific research cooperation, and political relations between the two countries would be significantly affected, and it would be regarded as one of the important institutional diplomatic pressure measures taken by the European Union against its partner countries.