EU will examine Israel association agreement after massive public petition

The European Commission will examine its association agreement with Israel after more than 1.1 million EU citizens signed a petition asking it to do so. “The Commission will meet the organisers [of the petition] to discuss the initiative in detail in the coming weeks. A public hearing will then be organised by the European Parliament,” the EU executive said in a press release Thursday.

While the examination is unlikely to lead to any substantial changes to the status quo, the number of signatures shows the prominence of the issue of EU-Israel relations among the EU public — and will force the Commission to give an official response. Out of 136 registered petitions — known as the EU Citizens’ Initiative — in more than a decade, only 14 had reached the 1 million-signature threshold required to be officially brought in front of the EU executive. The ECI mechanism requires the Commission to examine petitions signed by more than 1 million EU citizens from more than seven countries.

Earlier this year, the Commission rejected a petition to expand abortion financing after it was signed by 1.