Subject: Reconvening the EU-Israel Association Council
To the Honourable President Ursula von der Leyen, HR/VP Josep Borrell Fontelles and Commissioner
Olivér Várhelyi,
We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, call on the European Commission to take the
appropriate steps to renew the work of the EU-Israel Association Council and resume its activities with
regular meetings as soon as possible.
Recently, various and repeated statements have been made about the intention of the EU to schedule a
meeting of the Association Council in the near future. It is of the utmost importance that a concrete date
is agreed upon to resume the mutual dialogue on the official level of the Association Council. This would
allow us to jointly address common challenges such as the energy crisis, looming food insecurity, and the
continuous dangerous tensions in the Middle East, while at the same time to applaud and encourage the
recent groundbreaking developments following the Abraham Accords, which enhance peace and stability
in the region.
Israel and the European Union have been close strategic allies long before the establishment of the
Association Agreement. The Association Council, established by the Agreement with the aim of ensuring
continuous political dialogue between both parties, has not held a formal meeting for almost ten years
since its establishment in November 2012, despite pressing challenges and significant shared
opportunities.
Moreover, no EU-Israel Partnership Priorities have been adopted in the context of the revised European
Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) (2015). At the same time, the EU adopted Partnership Priorities with five
Southern Partners, including Jordan (2016), Lebanon (2016), Egypt (2017), Algeria (2017) and Tunisia
(2018).
During her recent visit to Israel, the President of the European Commission reiterated that democracy has
strengthened the special bond of friendship between the EU and Israel through the decades, and that today
more collaboration than ever before is taking place. Further collaboration is needed, for example with
regard to the mounting food security challenges, where Israel can and must play an important role given
its unique expertise in innovative, resource-efficient agriculture.
The strong and necessary strategic partnership between the EU and Israel – and the region – entered a new
chapter on the 15th of June, with the signing of the memorandum of understanding on gas exports between
Egypt, Israel and the EU. An agreement that will allow us to meet the challenges posed by our dependency
on Russian fossil fuels by substantially increasing Israeli gas exports via Egypt to Europe.
Democracies like Europe and Israel should come closer together. Our relationship can be of great value
in the face of mounting challenges. Reconvening the Association Council is the single most important
step we can take, and time is of the essence.
Respectfully,
- MEP Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ WHITE
- MEP Álvaro AMARO
- MEP Andrus ANSIP
- MEP Pablo ARIAS ECHEVERRÍA
- MEP Anna-Michelle ASIMAKOPOULOU
- MEP Petras AUŠTREVICIUS
- MEP Carmen AVRAM
- MEP Malik AZMANI
- MEP José Ramón BAUZÁ DÍAZ
- MEP Nicola BEER
- MEP François-Xavier BELLAMY
- MEP Isabel BENJUMEA BENJUMEA
- MEP Monika BEŇOVÁ
- MEP Stefan BERGER
- MEP Mara BIZZOTTO
- MEP Andrea BOCSKOR
- MEP Anna BONFRISCO
- MEP Paolo BORCHIA
- MEP Daniel BUDA
- MEP Carlo CALENDA
- MEP Marco CAMPOMENOSI
- MEP Jordi CAÑAS
- MEP Maria de Graça CARVALHO
- MEP Daniel CASPARY
- MEP Susanna CECCARDI
- MEP Dita CHARANZOVÁ
- MEP Oliver CHASTEL
- MEP Asger CHRISTENSEN
- MEP Lefteris CHRISTOFOROU
- MEP Ilana CICUREL
- MEP Rosanna CONTE
- MEP Corina CRETU
- MEP Katalin CSEH
- MEP Ryszard CZARNECKI
- MEP Arnaud DANJEAN
- MEP Paolo DE CASTRO
- MEP Salvatore DE MEO
- MEP Pilar DEL CASTILLO VERA
- MEP Andor DELI
- MEP Tamás DEUTSCH
- MEP Klára DOBREV
- MEP Francesca DONATO
- MEP Rosa ESTARÀS FERRAGUT
- MEP Markus FERBER
- MEP José Manuel FERNANDES
- MEP Carlo FIDANZA
- MEP Raffaele FITTO
- MEP Anna FOTYGA
- MEP Loucas FOURLAS
- MEP Søren GADE
- MEP Kinga GÁL
- MEP Luis GARICANO
- MEP Charles GOERENS
- MEP Esteban GONZÁLEZ PONS
- MEP Sandro GOZI
- MEP Maria GRAPINI
- MEP Bart GROOTHUIS
- MEP Enikő GYŐRI
- MEP András GYÜRK
- MEP Svenja HAHN
- MEP Teuvo HAKKARAINEN
- MEP Niclas HERBST
- MEP Balázs HIDVÉGHI
- MEP Martin HLAVÁČEK
- MEP Michiel HOGEVEEN
- MEP Monika HOHLMEIER
- MEP György HÖLVÉNYI
- MEP Laura HUHTASAARI
- MEP Lívia JÁRÓKA
- MEP Rasa JUKNEVIČIENĖ
- MEP Eugen JURZYCA
- MEP Radan KANEV
- MEP Assita KANKO
- MEP Karol KARSKI
- MEP Manolis KEFALOGIANNIS
- MEP Ondřej KNOTEK
- MEP Moritz KÖRNER
- MEP Ádám KÓSA
- MEP Dietmar KÖSTER
- MEP Ondřej KOVAŘÍK
- MEP Andrey KOVATCHEV
- MEP Andrius KUBILIUS
- MEP Stelios KYMPOUROPOULOS
- MEP Georgios KYRTSOS
- MEP Ilhan KYUCHYUK
- MEP Sergey LAGODINSKY
- MEP David LEGA
- MEP Miriam LEXMANN
- MEP Bogusław LIBERADZKI
- MEP Leopoldo LÓPEZ GIL
- MEP Lukas MANDL
- MEP Marian-Jean MARINESCU
- MEP Fulvio MARTUSCIELLO
- MEP Gabriel MATO
- MEP Costas MAVRIDES
- MEP David MCALLISTER
- MEP Vangelis MEIMARAKIS
- MEP Nuno MELO
- MEP Iskra MIHAYLOVA
100.MEP Francisco José MILLÁN MON
101.MEP Dolors MONTSERRAT
102.MEP Siegfried MURESAN
103.MEP Caroline NAGTEGAAL
104.MEP Victor NEGRESCU
105.MEP Angelika NIEBLER
106.MEP Ljudmila NOVAK
107.MEP Urmas PAET
108.MEP Aldo PATRICIELLO
109.MEP Jutta PAULUS
110.MEP Lidia PEREIRA
111.MEP Pina PICIERNO
112.MEP Maxette PIRBAKAS
113.MEP Jessica POLFJÄRD
114.MEP Peter POLLÁK
115.MEP Nicola PROCACCINI
116.MEP Emil RADEV
117.MEP Paulo RANGEL
118.MEP Luisa REGIMENTI
119.MEP Rene REPASI
120.MEP Karlo RESSLER
121.MEP Fréderique RIES
122.MEP Catharina RINZEMA
123.MEP Dominique RIQUET
124.MEP Sándor RÓNAI
125.MEP Dorien ROOKMAKER
126.MEP Bert-Jan RUISSEN
127.MEP Massimiliano SALINI
128.MEP Ernő SCHALLER-BAROSS
129.MEP Andreas SCHIEDER
130.MEP Andreas SCHWAB
131.MEP Sven SIMON
132.MEP Sara SKYTTEDAL
133.MEP Vicenzo SOFO
134.MEP Maria SPYRAKI
135.MEP Ramona STRUGARIU
136.MEP Antonio TAJANI
137.MEP Riho TERRAS
138.MEP Tomas TOBÉ
139.MEP Romana TOMC
140.MEP Edina TÓTH
141.MEP László TRÓCSÁNYI
142.MEP Dragos TUDORACHE
143.MEP Inese VAIDERE
144.MEP Loránt VINCZE
145.MEP Petar VITANOV
146.MEP Alexandr VONDRA
147.MEP Elissavet VOZEMBERG-VRIONIDI
148.MEP Witold Jan WASZCZYKOWSKI
149.MEP Manfred WEBER
150.MEP Charlie WEIMERS
151.MEP Pernille WEISS
152.MEP Iuliu WINKLER
153.MEP Elena YONCHEVA
154.MEP Theodoros ZAGORAKIS
155.MEP Marco ZANNI
156.MEP Javier ZARZALEJOS
157.MEP Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ
158.MEP Juan Ignacio ZOIDO
159.MEP Željana ZOVKO
160.MEP Milan ZVER
Ms. Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Mr. Josep Borrell Fontelles
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/
Vice-President of the European Commission
Mr. Olivér Várhelyi
Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement
European Commission
Rue de la Loi 200
1049 Brussels, Belgium