Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take following the announcement that the government of Israel is to end its diplomatic links with the EU.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

It is not our understanding that the Government of Israel is ending its diplomatic links with the EU. The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, discussed this issue with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on 30 November. Prime Minister Netanyahu clarified that Israel will continue to work with the EU on the Middle East Peace Process. In December 2009, the UK introduced voluntary guidelines to enable produce from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories to be specifically labelled as such. We therefore also welcome the EU’s ‘Interpretative notice on the indication of origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967’, a technical clarification of existing rules, adopted on 11 November.