Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2015-09-09-Speech-3-663-000"
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"en.20150909.40.3-663-000"2
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"Mr President, I of course agree with the High Representative that there can be no successful Middle East peace process unless the international community – including ourselves – promotes responsible action on both sides.
However, I am afraid the actions we continue to witness from the Israeli Government are not conducive to peace. The settlement building continues, despite being a blatant breach of international law. The European Union response – your own response – is right and correct in the form of words, but failing in terms of any action. By our inaction, I think we give tacit support to an illegal occupation. The EU-Israel Association Agreement has, under Article 2, provisions for a formal human rights dialogue. We need to begin that dialogue immediately. If Israel refuses to halt the settlement building, we should move to suspend the Association Agreement. Trade preferences are carrots and sticks. If we are afraid to use the stick when facing such disregard for international law, then our claims to have values in our foreign policy become empty words.
What is interesting, though, is that while the institutions drag their heels our citizens are demanding the opportunity to take action. They are demanding to have mandatory labelling on products so that they can choose to boycott products coming from the occupied territories. So I welcome the news that the Commission will soon publish its proposal for labelling guidelines, but these must be mandatory guidelines showing that these are goods from illegally occupied territories. Mandatory labelling is essential, both for giving consumers accurate information on what they buy and to take seriously our obligations for a fair – as well as free – trade policy."@en1
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