Year XXXVIII, Number 3, November 2025

Inés Fernández-Pontes

Spanish correspondent of Euractiv.

Former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described the European Commission’s proposed sanctions on Israel as “a joke”, telling Spanish public broadcaster RTVE on Wednesday evening that the measures come “40,000 deaths too late”.

Borrell compared Israel’s actions in Gaza to Nazi crimes during the Second World War, saying the EU’s “indifference” had given Tel Aviv “free rein to do whatever it wants”.

The Commission’s proposal, unveiled on Wednesday, includes suspending preferential trade concessions on Israeli goods and imposing sanctions on far-right ministers and extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank territories.

“It’s such a minor move that they might approve it just to get rid of the problem,” Borrell said.

The veteran socialist politician has been one of the most outspoken European figures on the humanitarian cost of the Gaza war, regularly criticising the EU’s lack of decisive action. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had “spent fifteen months ignoring those of us who told her that action needed to be taken,” he added.

His comments also followed criticism from his successor, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who last week accused him of inaction during his 2019–2024 mandate. “He did nothing,” Kallas told journalists.

Asked about her remarks, Borrell said it was “a rule of good behaviour not to criticise either your predecessor or your successor”, but admitted he had failed to secure Council approval for sanctions on Israel. “At least I proposed it,” he said.

The article has been originally published on Euractiv.com on Sep 18, 2025