UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS ON SYRIA, RUSSIA FROM EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF
By Ahmet Gencturk
ATHENS (AA) - The EU Foreign Affairs Council will discuss suspending the association agreement with Israel, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced on Tuesday.
“The Dutch foreign minister has put forward a proposal to do the review of Article 2 of our association agreement with Israel and we will discuss this,” she said at the doorstep of the council meeting in Brussels.
Noting that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire, Kallas said: “Humanitarian aid should reach Gaza as soon as possible.
“Of course, Israel's decision to let some of the aid in is a drop in the ocean. It's welcome, but it's not enough. There are thousands of trucks behind the borders waiting. It is European money that has funded this humanitarian aid, and it has to reach the people,” she added.
- Sanctions on Syria
Noting that the bloc is already working to lift sanctions on Syria, Kallas said: "Of course, we have had some very intense discussions. There are worries about whether the government is going to the right direction. But I think we don't have a choice. We actually either give them possibility to, you know, stabilize the country, or we don't do that."
About the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Kallas said that Kyiv has already agreed to a ceasefire, adding that Russia should be pressured to end the war.
"We will put more pressure so we will agree on the 17th package of sanctions today, but we continue on working on the next strong package of sanctions to put more pressure on Russia so that they would also want peace," she said.