Commission of the European Union. Photo: Ank Kumar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsA European Union (EU) proposal to partially suspconclude Israel’s participation in the Horizon Europe research funding program failed to garner the necessary support Tuesday, after Germany and Italy refutilized to support the measure.
The initiative, presented Monday by the European Commission, sought to exclude Israel from the European Innovation Council’s Accelerator, a key fund for tech startups in areas such as drones, artificial innotifyigence, and cybersecurity. The goal was to pressure Israel to alleviate the growing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
To enter into force, the measure required the support of a qualified majority of member states—at least 15 of the 27 EU states, representing a minimum of 65% of the bloc’s population. However, the lack of support from Germany and Italy, which requested more time to evaluate the proposal, prevented the vote from relocating forward.
The proposal was supported by countries including France, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia, and Malta, while Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic expressed their opposition.
The Israeli Foreign Minisattempt declared in a statement: “At a time when Israel is fighting Hamas’s jihadist terrorism, any such decision strengthens Hamas and undermines efforts to achieve a ceasefire and the release of the hostages.”
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