Slovenia welcomes EU's proposed measures against Israel

ISTANBUL

Slovenia's Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon welcomed the European Commission's proposed measures against Israel on Wednesday.

"Slovenia welcomes the EU measures against Israel," Fajon wrote on US social media company X.

She said Slovenia's and the other like-minded countries' actions contributed to the decision.

"Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians, as confirmed yesterday by an independent UN investigative commission. Europe must act now!" Tajon added.

Her statement came after EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas unveiled plans on Wednesday to downgrade trade ties with Israel and sanction top officials over findings of human rights abuses in Gaza, marking a major shift in the bloc’s approach to Tel Aviv.

Maros Sefcovic, European commissioner for trade and economic security, said the proposal targets key provisions of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement, including the free movement of goods, services, public procurement, competition, and intellectual property.

"In practice, this means that imports from Israel to the EU will lose the preferential access to the EU market, and that these goods will be charged duties at the level applied to any other third countries with whom the EU has no free trade agreement," he told a press conference in Brussels.

The commission also announced sanctions on Palestinian resistance group Hamas, extremist Cabinet ministers of the Israeli government, and violent settlers. The EU Council now needs to approve the decision unanimously.