France pushes for stricter EU trade controls on goods from Israeli settlements

Imposing restrictions on goods originating from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is only common sense, French Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier told EU News.

The country put forward a proposal alongside Sweden last month, calling on the European Union to increase trade tariffs and enforce stricter import controls on goods coming from Israeli settlements deemed illegal under international law.

“With our Swedish friends, we wrote to the Commission and insisted on the necessity to have a common European position on this question, rapidly,” Forissier said on EU News’ interview programme 12 Minutes With.

“We cannot accept any import of products that are, in fact, produced in illegally occupied territories regarding international law.”

When submitting the proposal, Paris and Stockholm cited the 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on the illegality of the Israeli settlements. Several UN resolutions spanning from the late 1970s to today also state that settlement activity in the Palestinian territories is illegal.

“It’s not an aggressive position. In terms of [international] law and human rights, it’s normal that we say that. We have to be coherent,” Forissier said.

Israel has recently introduced measures aimed at strengthening its control over the West Bank and East Jerusalem in areas including property law, planning and licensing. Those moves appear to contravene key agreements that were signed under the Oslo peace agreement in 1993.

On Friday last week, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands urged Israel to stop expanding its settlements in the occupied West Bank in a joint statement.

Israel disputes that these settlements are illegal, citing historical and ​biblical ties to the area.

The US position has significantly shifted under President Donald Trump, from disapproving of settlements and their expansion to accepting them, although the US president has explicitly condemned plans to annex the West Bank as pushed by Israel’s ultra-nationalist groups in the current coalition government.

Ban on products from settlements

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Helen McEntee announced on Tuesday that Dublin aims to pass a law curbing goods trade with settlements ‌in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by mid-July.

Last week, the Dutch government announced it is working on a three-year trade ban on Israeli products from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan Heights.

The Dutch government has repeatedly advocated for a European ban, a call echoed by Sweden and France, which, in their paper, wrote that a total import ban on settlement goods could be justified, due to the “deteriorating situation.”

Minister Forissier floated a “more offensive and stricter” approach than the trade restrictions.

But there is insufficient support for this among EU member states. Increased tariffs would need a qualified majority, while a ban would need unanimous agreement among EU countries, meaning it is unlikely such measures will be introduced.

“Anyway, we must have a common position from Europe and the proposal of the European Commission,” Forissier said.

Asked whether the Commission has been dragging its feet on the matter, he said it had been “very attentive to what [Sweden and France] had said, and that he was confident a proposal on this was imminent.

EU News asked the European Commission whether a proposal was indeed coming, and what it would comprise, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

The EU’s sweeping trade agreement with Israel — part of the EU–Israel Association Agreement — slashes tariffs on Israeli goods.

However, products from the occupied territories (such as the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights) are excluded from this treatment. Instead, they are subject to standard, non-preferential tariffs.

Countries such as Spain, Ireland and Slovenia have repeatedly called on the bloc to suspend the entire association agreement with Israel over alleged war crimes in Lebanon and Palestine. But the latest push to end preferential trade failed to garner the necessary support.

Following the vote, the EU’s Foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, did say further discussions would take place on the French-Swedish proposal.

Earlier this month, the EU agreed to sanction Israeli settlers over their violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, a move seen by critics of Israel as a mere incremental step compared with severing economic ties.