EU–Israel Ties Growing Despite Disputes

May 27, 2014

Mmax/Shutterstock.com “We have a very vibrant and extensive and mutually beneficial and productive relationship,” Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen, the head of the delegation of the European Union [EU] to Israel told The Media Line. “We also have some areas in which we have disagreement. We have to keep things in perspective.”

Despite tensions between Israel and the EU, there are growing economic ties. Dan Catarivas, the director of Foreign Trade and International Relations for the Manufacturers Association of Israel, told a conference on Europe and Israel that the volume of trade between Israel and the EU is more than [US] $41 billion a year.

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Asaf Eliason/Shutterstock.com He said that 31% of Israel’s exports go to the EU, and 34% of the country’s imports come from the EU. “Europe is and will be our major partner in the years to come. We need to cherish and develop the relationship.” Israel and Europe already have a free trade agreement, and the EU has offered even more benefits if Israel and the Palestinians reach a peace agreement.

Some experts warn that the BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] movement is gaining steam and is expressed in growing anti-Semitism. “Anti-Semitism is growing in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and even in Germany, Poland and Austria. We shouldn’t neglect that,” Yehuda Kinar, a former Israeli ambassador to Belgium told The Media Line.

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Andy Lidstone/Shutterstock.com Several speakers at the conference said that the BDS movement has not spread widely and, although noisy, will not damage the close relations between Israel and Europe. “I don’t think the boycott movement has been a success story,” Michael Mertes, the director of the Israel office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation told The Media Line.

He said there has long been a paradox in relations between Israel and Europe. “There is no country outside Europe with which the EU has such a strong relationship. At the same time there is an impression of permanent crisis. This does not reflect reality.”

Source: Excerpts of article by Linda Gradstein, The Media Line