Brussels, 2 July 2025 (Lusa) – The President of the European Council, António Costa, says that the European Union (EU) has “a range” of decisions with “concrete consequences” that it can take on its relationship with Israel because of human rights violations in Gaza.
“For the first time, we have a range of decisions to take with concrete consequences for our relationship with Israel, and we make them not because we seek conflict with Israel, but because we recognise the reality everyone acknowledges,” said António Costa in an interview with the Lusa news agency in Brussels.
As he marks six months in office as head of the institution that brings together EU heads of government and state, the former Portuguese prime minister points out that ‘for the first time, there is an official European Union report noting human rights violations in Gaza, and the European Council has mandated the [EU] Council to draw the appropriate conclusions from these facts about the association agreement with Israel.’
“I will wait for the debate that the foreign ministers will have, and only afterwards will I consider whether we should impose sanctions on ministers, impose sanctions on Israel, suspend the agreement, or simply convene the [EU-Israel] association council,” he said.
António Costa has been one of the most vocal EU leaders in condemning the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and on Thursday, he brought the issue to the European Council meeting, the third ordinary meeting he has chaired since taking office on 1 December.
On that occasion, António Costa stated that the EU “must act” on the humanitarian situation in Gaza in the face of the Israeli offensive, advocating dialogue with “friend” Israel to achieve a ceasefire.
In the conclusions approved at the European summit, EU heads of government and state “called attention to the urgent humanitarian situation” in the Gaza Strip, highlighting Israel’s actions, and emphasised that prompt relief for civilian casualties and hunger in the Palestinian enclave is essential, according to the written conclusions approved.
In the text, the European Council also said it took “note of the report on the implementation of Article 2 of the Association Agreement between Israel and the EU”, which reports human rights violations by Tel Aviv, and announced that it will begin discussing how to proceed in July.
In an interview with Lusa, António Costa acknowledged that ‘each of these 27 Member States has, concerning itself and about the world, a very diverse history and tradition’, with countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria having strong ties with Israel.
“Fortunately, the tragic humanitarian reality that Israel has caused in Gaza [...] has obviously led to a situation where everyone today readily acknowledges the need to signal that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is truly dramatic and that Israel must cease fire in Gaza, it is urgent to end the illegal settlements in the West Bank, it is urgent to allow humanitarian assistance and it is urgent to save the population of Gaza," he stresses.
The position comes at a time when hostilities have killed more than 56,000 people and wounded more than 127,000 since the start of the war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in October 2023.
Estimates indicate that around 470,000 people need urgent support to avoid severe hunger, and humanitarian teams report that dozens of civilians died while waiting for aid in recent weeks.
On 1 December 2024, António Costa began his two-and-a-half-year term as President of the European Council, becoming the first socialist and the first Portuguese citizen to hold this position.
ANE/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
