Albares participates in a FAC marked by the third anniversary of Ukraine and the Israel-EU Partnership

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, is taking part in a new meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels on Monday, which will be marked by the third anniversary of the Russian invasion, in the midst of a change of course by the United States, and by the meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, the monitoring body of the Association Agreement, whose revision has been insistently demanded by Spain due to the violations of International Law and human rights in Gaza. According to the agenda published by the EU, the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) will address Russia's aggression against Ukraine, "when the third year of the large-scale invasion is completed", after holding an informal exchange of views by videoconference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrii Sybiha. The debate coincides with the trip of the College of Commissioners and the President of the European Council, António Costa, to Kyiv to show their solidarity with Ukraine, on the occasion of the third anniversary. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will also travel to the Ukrainian capital to attend the international summit of leaders in support of Ukraine. This is his fourth visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion. His previous trip to Kyiv took place on July 1, 2023, coinciding with the first day of the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council. Both these trips to Kyiv and the debates in the FAC take place amid the change of course of US policy towards Ukraine, especially after President Donald Trump's decision to begin direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war and to exclude Europe and Ukraine itself from these peace negotiations. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, held their first bilateral meeting in Riyadh on February 18 with the aim of normalizing diplomatic relations between the two powers and seeking a solution to the war in Ukraine. The EU has insisted over the last few days that any peace negotiations must involve Ukraine and Europe, and Albares himself warned last Friday, before the plenary session of the G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting in Johannesburg (South Africa), of the need for a "fair and lasting peace" that respects "the will of the democratically elected Government" in Ukraine. That same day, Albares told Cadena SER that "the new postulates of the US administration force us to rethink and update European security." Separately, the FAC, chaired by the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, will discuss the situation in the Middle East, with special attention to Syria, Lebanon and UNRWA, and the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. During the working lunch, the ministers will address the situation in Iran and the sanctions imposed by the EU. Separately, the Foreign Affairs Council will address "the rapid evolution of the situation in terms of security and defence." EU-Israel Association Council The day will end with the 13th meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, chaired by Kaja Kallas and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, in the presence of the Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, and representatives of the EU Member States. According to the EU in a press release, the parties will engage during this meeting “in a political dialogue that will focus on the conflict in Gaza and relations between Israel and Palestine, as well as regional issues, including Iran, and global issues.” The discussion will then address “bilateral relations between the EU and Israel,” it added. The EU-Israel Association Council is the ministerial body responsible for developing the EU-Israel Association Agreement, signed in Brussels in 1995 and in force since 2000, which constitutes the legal basis governing relations between Israel and the European Union. Article 2 of the Agreement establishes that “relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement.” Based on these principles, Spain and Ireland requested in February 2024 that the European Commission “undertake an urgent assessment” of Israel’s compliance with its human rights obligations under the Association Agreement and that, “if it considers that it is in breach”, it propose to the Council “appropriate measures for it to take into consideration.” Pedro Sánchez himself insisted on this during the European Council meeting in October 2024. “I have requested a review of the Association Agreement between the EU and Israel, if violations of human rights and international humanitarian law are ultimately found in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon,” he told the press. The EU-Israel Association Council has not met since October 2022, and then did so ten years after not being convened, mainly due to the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The meetings in 2023 and 2024 also did not take place due to violations of international law and human rights by Israel.

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