Leaked memo: EU has known since 2017 it had legal right to freeze Israel trade deal

A historical opinion by the European Commission’s then top lawyer, obtained by EUobserver, said the bloc was legally entitled to suspend cooperation with Israel, such as its ‘Horizon Europe’ science grants and ‘Erasmus’ student-exchange scheme, already in 2017 due to Israel’s violations of international law in the West Bank.

It was even entitled to freeze the whole EU–Israel Association Agreement, which governed their duty-free trade, the memo added.

It showed the EU was fully aware of Israeli abuses, that they were getting worse, that dialogue with Israel was ineffective, and that Palestinians had no legal redress.

The EU legal opinion also said that UN Security Council resolution 2334 in 2016 had explicitly called for UN members to take measures to prevent acts of destruction in the West Bank.

A total or partial suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement “would comply with customary international law”, the memo said.

The seven-page document, dated 5 October 2017, was signed by Luis Romero Requena, the then director general of the commission’s legal service and marked “strictly confidential”.

Romero Requena retired in the meantime, but the law has not changed, while Israeli violations have spiralled off the charts.

In Gaza, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said in 2024 that Israel was at serious risk of committing “genocide”, which meant the EU had a “duty to prevent” this, under the UN Genocide Convention of 1948, which all 27 member states have signed up to.

A UN Commission of Inquiry said in 2025 Israeli forces “have committed and are continuing to commit genocide“.

In the West Bank, Israel has also destroyed or seized more than 1,000 EU and EU member state-funded structures since 2015 – amounting to millions of euros in financial losses – according to data from the European External Action Service, consolidated by EUobserver.

The ICJ also said in 2024 that Israel’s presence in the occupied territories was illegal, triggering more EU obligations to help end it.

“What in 2017 was already a legitimate option, today is a legal obligation: The EU must suspend the Israel association agreement,” said Claudio Francavilla from the Human Rights Watch group.