EU Foreign Ministers Back Trade Ban on Israeli Settlement Goods

EU foreign ministers gave the strongest support to a full ban on EU imports of goods made in Israeli settlements during a meeting on Monday, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. Kallas told reporters in Brussels that the option of banning trade with the settlements drew the most backing among the measures the European Commission presented last week.

Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are considered illegal under international law and by the EU.

EU ambassadors will now develop details of the Commission’s two-page options paper. Kallas said an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers could be called before the next scheduled gathering in October. A majority of member states also backed treating the measures as trade policy rather than foreign policy, which would allow approval by qualified majority instead of requiring unanimous consent from all 27 governments.

The EU already applies a policy of differentiation that excludes settlement goods from preferential tariffs under the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Calls for a full ban have increased following a 2024 International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the settlements.

Some ministers expressed frustration with the European Commission for the limited detail and timing of the proposal. Kallas cited an oral opinion from the Council’s legal services stating that qualified majority support would be sufficient to restrict or ban settlement trade.

"We need to have a unified position, and so far we have not been able to have that unified position," Kallas said.