BRUSSELS — At least half the member states of the European Union, including France and the UK, currently support labeling products manufactured in Israeli settlements, a European official said on Tuesday.
In parallel, European diplomats have been mulling the possibility of ending EU funding for the Palestinian Authority should negotiations between Israel and the PLO fail, the Times of Israel has learned. Such a move, if undertaken, could lead to the financial collapse of the PA, which receives European funding estimated at between €300 and €500 million per year.Andreas Reinicke, a German diplomat serving as the EU special representative for the Middle East peace process, told journalists at the European External Action Service — the EU organ responsible for foreign policy — that the current European stance represents growing discomfort in Brussels with Israeli construction beyond the Green Line even as negotiations are underway with the Palestinians.“When I began my position in February, only two states supported labeling, now 14 or 15 states support it. The trend is clear,” Reinicke said.The EU agreed last week to include Israel in its prestigious scientific cooperation project Horizon 2020 following protracted negotiations between Israeli Justice Minister and chief peace negotiator Tzipi Livni and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, on November 26. The partnership was delayed due to new European guidelines, scheduled to take effect in January, which bar funding for Israeli institutions in the West Bank.The demand to clearly mark products manufactured in the settlements was originally initiated by the BDS movement in Europe, but the initiative is rapidly gaining traction in mainstream political discourse — a trend Israeli diplomats serving in Europe are attempting to curb. Last month, BDS activists in Ireland placed stickers reading “For justice in Palestine boycott Israel” on Israeli products sold at Tesco supermarket chain.The worrisome blanket boycotting of Israel could be curtailed if Israel showed serious commitment to peace talks with the Palestinians, Reinicke said.Palestinian politicians, meanwhile, are continuing to demarcate the borders between “legitimate Israel” and Israeli entities beyond the Green Line that should be shunned.On Tuesday, PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi called on the Dutch government to exclude settlement companies from the Netherlands-Israel Cooperation Forum set to be launched next weekend.“This is incomprehensible and unacceptable,” Ashrawi said in a press statement. “The official policy of the Dutch government is to discourage economic relations of Dutch companies with settlements. How can the Dutch government establish a cooperation forum with Israel which facilitates these relations and effectively supports the settlement economy?”Palestinian law bans any form of cooperation with Israeli settlements.

Ashton and Kerry to skip Ukraine meeting

Today @ 09:26-DEC 4,13-EUOBSERVER
By Andrew Rettman
BRUSSELS - The EU foreign service, some of the Union's big member states and the US are not sending top people to an OSCE meeting in Kiev on Thursday (5 December) and Friday.A spokeswoman for the EU foreign service chief, Catherine Ashton, said her political director, Helga Schmid, will go in her place.
France and the UK are planning to send deputies.The German and Polish foreign ministers said on Wednesday they would go after previously planning to stay away. Poland's Radek Sikorski told press he had "hesitated" because of the mass-scale unrest.US secretary of state John Kerry will also skip the meeting.
Ukraine is hosting the yearly event in its role as the current presidency of the Vienna-based pro-democracy club.The meeting comes amid street protests and police violence in Kiev after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych opted not to sign an EU association pact.Opposition MPs in the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday did not get enough votes to call a motion of no confidence.Yanukovych's Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, told them he is sorry about police beatings, but he also threatened further use of truncheons and tear gas. "We extended our hand to you … If we meet with a fist, I’m telling you - we’ve got enough forces," he said.The big EU countries frequently send deputies to OSCE ministerials.Ashton did go to the last meeting, in Dublin in 2012.Her spokeswoman told EUobserver on Wednesday that her decision to skip Kiev has nothing to do with the Ukrainian crisis."The high representative is meeting with Serbian and Kosovar leaders in Brussels. There is very little time, because she needs to file a report on progress in the EU-facilitated dialogue [on Kosovo-Serb relations] for a General Affairs Council in two weeks' time," Maja Kocijancic said.Kerry's decision is a deliberate snub, however.The US envoy was due to go to Kiev, but is now going to Moldova instead.A US official told press on Tuesday he changed his mind because Moldova did initial an EU treaty last week."Had that been the case with Ukraine, it would have been a tougher decision whether to go to the OSCE, but since that didn’t happen, we’re going where the European decisions were made," the official said.An EU diplomat told EUobserver that EU countries should also show Yanukovych he has lost support."He needs Western attention to counter pressure from Russia. But we should not be giving him any presents at this stage," the contact said.Meanwhile, Nato countries' foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday condemned Ukraine police violence in a joint statement.The OSCE itself has also criticised Yanukovych for what look like targeted beatings of more than 40 foreign journalists in recent days.Some diplomats believe Yanukovych might make another u-turn and sign the EU pact, for instance, in the margins of an EU summit in Brussels on 19 December, or at an EU-Ukraine summit in March.Yanukovych's deputy PM is drafting a proposal for how much extra money the EU should give Ukraine in return for a change of heart.The deputy PM, Serhiy Arbuzov, is expected to visit the EU capital before the end of the year.Update: This story was updated at 1pm Brussels time on 4 December, after the German and Polish foreign ministers changed their minds.

Austerity stripping away Europe's human rights, watchdog says

03.12.13 @ 17:18
By Nikolaj Nielsen
BRUSSELS - Austerity measures imposed by international creditors on member states are eroding the social and economic rights of people, says human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe.“The crisis is both a context and a constraint on government policy but some responses to the crisis have created much collateral damage to human rights,” Nils Muiznieks, the commissioner for human rights at the Strasbourg-based watchdog, told reporters on Tuesday (3 December).Muiznieks, who presented a report on safeguarding human rights in times of economic crisis, said cuts in public expenditure and selective tax hikes aimed a curbing public deficits have not achieved their stated aims.Instead, the rights to decent work and adequate standards of living have rolled back, contributing to deepening poverty in Europe.The report notes civil and political rights have also eroded as some governments exclude people on having any say in austerity proposals, provoking large-scale demonstrations.

Spain’s new €600,000 fine for civil disobedience

The latest twist came over the weekend when Spain backed a draft law on public order that cracks down on civil disobedience.The revised draft, if ratified, means Spaniards can be fined up to €30,000 for insulting a government official, burning a flag, or protesting outside the parliament without a permit.Covering faces or wearing hoods at demonstrations is also an offence.Judges would also be able to impose fines of up to €600,000 for picketing at nuclear plants, airports, or if demonstrators interfere with elections.“This new report of a draft law extending the scope and severity of sanctions against peaceful demonstrators is of serious concern,” said Muiznieks.“When I see a potential fine of up to €600,000, I’d like for someone to convince me that that is a proportionate penalty,” he added.Muiznieks said the proposed measures, tabled last month by Spain’s interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz, run counter to the freedom of assembly.“If you don’t let people have their say before, they’ll have their say afterwards in the streets,” he pointed out.The Council of Europe in a report in October slammed the Spanish security troops for their disproportionate use of force against anti-austerity protests.Undercover police officers at the demonstrations are not held accountable for their actions, it says.The European Commission says it is unable to comment on Spain’s new draft law because it is a national issue.“Member states are themselves responsible for the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security on their territory,” said Mina Andreeva, the commission’s spokesperson on justice affairs, in an email.She noted that the commission’s powers regarding acts and omissions by member states are limited to overseeing the application of European Union law.But Muiznieks’ says human rights norms have to be respected in economic decision-making, including in national and international responses to the crisis.The report says most national deficits did not result in unsustainable public expenditure from before the crisis but from the public rescue of financial markets.The rescue cost an estimated €4.5 trillion between 2008-11. The economic downturn and historic unemployment rates means the worst affected member states lost out on vital tax revenue streams.The worst affected are children, young people, the disabled, the elderly with low pensions, and many women.“Human rights are not expendable in times of economic hardship but are essential if we want to have a sustained and an inclusive recovery,” said Muiznieks.