EU close to labelling products made in occupied Palestinian lands

The EU is within months of enacting a long-delayed plan to label products made in occupied Palestinian lands, prompting a fightback from Israel to stop what it regards as the use of consumer policy as a political weapon, according to Financial Times.

To the frustration of Britain, France and several other EU countries, for three years the European Commission has stalled on issuing technical guidance on labelling products from Jewish settlements, in part over fears that a badly timed move would backfire in Israel.

But as Europe steps up efforts to restart the Middle East peace process, political momentum is building to publish what Brussels insists is a purely administrative document.

With approval from senior levels of the commission, officials are now at an advanced stage of drafting the text. People familiar with the process expect publication within months and by the year end at the latest. “We will finally see this emerge,” said one senior EU diplomat.
Israel is deeply concerned about a move that David Walzer, Israel’s ambassador to the EU, described as “a European attempt to politically pressure Israel on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by using economic means of questionable legality”.
EU foreign ministers, who meet in Brussels on Monday, are expected to reiterate their commitment to “full and effective” implementation of labelling of goods from settlements. It follows a letter from 16 foreign ministers — including France and Britain — in April urging Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, to advance a policy agreed in 2012 to make clear when products originate from settlements the EU sees as illegal.