TFI Chair Lukas Mandl Hails Establishment of Kosovo-Israel Ties and Calls for Deeper EU-Israel Relations

TFI Press Release

TFI Chair Lukas Mandl Hails Establishment of Kosovo-Israel Ties and Calls for Deeper EU-Israel Relations

Brussels, February 3, 2021. "In these days, the mutual recognition of the State of Israel and the Republic of Kosovo will become a reality. As different as the two states are, it is also true that both are of particular importance for the development of the EU and Europe therefore it is a moment of joy when two states, which have so much in common with the EU, now also establish diplomatic relations", explains Lukas Mandl, Kosovo rapporteur of the European People's Party in the European Parliament and head of the cross-party Transatlantic Friends of Israel Group (TFI).

Deepen the Association Agreement with Israel

"The EU-Israel Association Council has not met since 2012. For years we have been calling for a reconstitution of the Council with the aim of updating and deepening the Association Agreement between Israel and the EU. It was a step in the right direction when Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi announced respective plans in autumn last year. I have heard that the Portuguese Council Presidency is also open to discussing this issue during their Council Presidency in the first half of 2021. I have therefore submitted a formal parliamentary question to the Council in order to receive a binding answer regarding preparations for the organisation of an Association Council. I am pleased that my home country Austria is setting a good example here and that the Austrian government, on the initiative of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, has been working on a more in-depth agreement between Israel and Austria since last summer", says Mandl.

 

Read MEP Lukas Mandl's full statement here: https://www.eppgroup.eu/de/wie-wir-es-umsetzen/mit-eu-laendern/osterreic...