European foreign ministers met in Ireland on Wednesday for an informal meeting following Germany's attribution of responsibility for a foiled drone attack at Leipzig airport to Russia. Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign Affairs Xavier Bettel pointed to a new trend heading in the wrong direction, as he believes the situation regarding the war in Ukraine has now moved even further away from de-escalation and a peace agreement.
The Middle East was also on the agenda, specifically the situation in Palestine. Despite the extreme statements by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who notably called for the killing of Palestinian civilians, reaching an agreement at the European level on the adoption of sanctions remains very difficult.
Bettel told press: "I am frustrated at every meeting because we are like a dog that barks and barks, but does not know how to bite. For this reason, yesterday I and some other European colleagues signed a declaration of our wish to have qualified majorities to be able to make decisions. But I unfortunately must tell you we do not even have a majority to be able to ask the Commission to analyse sanctions."
The foreign minister said he found it alarming that the EU had not reacted to the extreme declarations made by the Israeli minister.
Meanwhile, as Bettel explained on RTL Radio earlier this week, Luxembourg is looking into the possibility of imposing sanctions at a national level.
When questioned on this subject, however, Bettel was unable to provide a precise timeline for these changes to the legal framework. Instead, he said the Ministry had a working group looking at "the legal basis for considering trade measures against imports from illegal settlements in the West Bank. This is ongoing and the next steps will be released in due course."
