Helen McEntee: EU agrees sanctions on West Bank settlers
Helen McEntee reports from Brussels after a Foreign Affairs Council where EU ministers agreed at European level to impose sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank. She outlines the decisions taken, the need for further measures including trade restrictions, and discusses progress on Ukraine funding and returning kidnapped children.
Decisions in Brussels: Helen McEntee describes how, following advocacy with Slovenian and Spanish colleagues, member states agreed to sanction violent settlers in the West Bank. She frames the move as a necessary response to rising violence, illegal settlement expansion and the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Next steps and trade measures: McEntee says more concrete proposals are needed to respond to breaches of international law and that she will push at the next Foreign Affairs Council for decisions or votes on banning trade linked to settlement activity in the West Bank.
Ukraine and children: The minister highlights progress on the 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine and a focused discussion on returning some of the estimated 20,000 young children forcibly removed from Ukraine and taken to Russia. She stresses the importance of reuniting those children with their families.
Regional stability and ceasefires: McEntee also draws attention to the ongoing situation in Lebanon where she says neither side is fully respecting the ceasefire. She calls for concrete, enforceable actions under international law to address these multiple crises.
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Hi everyone, just finished up here in Brussels after a busy Foreign Affairs Council. Some important decisions have been taken today following advocacy by myself, my Slovenian and Spanish colleagues. We now have agreed at a European level to impose sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank. It is completely unacceptable the level of violence that we're seeing but also the continued increase of illegal settlements coupled with the dire humanitarian situation that continues in Gaza as well as the ongoing situation in Lebanon where neither side are respecting the ceasefire in place at the moment. We need more concrete proposals on the table to respond to these breaches of international law and I would expect at the next Foreign Affairs Council that those more concrete actions on banning trade, in particular in the West Bank, that they would be decided on or at least voted on by Member States and I'll be pushing for that. We've also made progress when it comes to Ukraine, making sure that the 90 billion euro loan is being dispersed but also we had a very good and important discussion this evening on what more we can do to essentially return some of the 20,000 young children that have been kidnapped and forcibly removed from their homes in Ukraine and brought to Russia. It is so important that we do everything that we can to reunite these children with their families and to bring them home.
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