“Sanctions against Israel are fundamentally wrong,” said Markus Söder, leader of the Bavarian Christlich-Soziale Union (CSU), who is affiliated with Merz ‘ruling Christian Democrats, in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. “We as CSU will not accept this in Germany.”
Brussels wants to tackle Israel with high import taxes: fruit and vegetables will soon be more expensive
The European Commission presented a plan on Wednesday to suspend parts of the Association Agreement with Israel, which would mean that Israel would pay the same rates as countries without a trade agreement with the EU.
The Christian Democrats were already very critical of the proposals of the European Commission. Thorsten Frei, Chief of Cabinet of Merz on federal chancellery, called on the EU to be ‘very, very careful’ in this matter.
“I absolutely cannot imagine that we will in any way impose sanctions on matters such as the EU association agreement or trade relationships with Israel,” he told Omroep Deutschlandfunk.
The statements show support for Merz, which has been cautious about sanctions against Israel. He stated this week that Germany will determine his position during the next informal meeting of EU leaders on 1 October.