Imposing restrictions on goods originating from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is only common sense, French Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier told Euronews.
The country put forward a proposal alongside Sweden last month, calling on the European Union to increase trade tariffs and enforce stricter import controls on goods coming from Israeli settlements deemed illegal under international law.
"With our Swedish friends, we wrote to the Commission and insisted on the necessity to have a common European position on this question, rapidly," Forissier said on Euronews' interview programme 12 Minutes With.
"We cannot accept any import of products that are, in fact, produced in illegally occupied territories regarding international law."
When submitting the proposal, Paris and Stockholm cited the 2024 International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on the illegality of the Israeli settlements. Several UN resolutions spanning from the late 1970s to today also state that settlement activity in the Palestinian territories is illegal.
