Israeli entities’ compliance with EU guidelines on their participation in EU programmes
15.1.2020
Priority question for written answer P-000206/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Gina Dowding (Verts/ALE)
Israeli entities may only receive grants from EU programmes if the projects concerned do not take place in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) [1] .
However, the screening procedures for making sure that Israeli entities comply with these provisions are woefully insufficient.
One example is the Horizon 2020 project GEO-CRADLE [2] , under which Tel Aviv University received EUR 130 625 in EU funding. However, the project violated EU guidelines. According to the longitude and latitude coordinates for the original soil samples, about 30 % of the samples gathered for the project came from the Golan Heights in the OPT [3] .
Furthermore, the GEO-CRADLE database previously listed Ariel University and the Golan Heights Winery as stakeholders. The OPT is the place of establishment for both of these entities, in violation of EU guidelines. However, GEO-CRADLE documents show their continued status as key stakeholders. Furthermore, Professor Naftaly Goldshleger from Ariel University lectured at a 2017 GEO-CRADLE regional workshop in Tel Aviv [4] .
Non-compliance should not be discovered on a case-by-case basis, and EU programmes should not undermine international law. Considering this:
- 1.What actions will the Commission take to make certain that EU-grant-receiving Israeli entities comply with EU guidelines in the future?
- 2.What new measures will the Commission introduce in the Horizon Europe research programme to improve the screening of Israeli entities’ compliance with EU guidelines?
- [1] In accordance with Section D 12(a) of the ‘Guidelines on the eligibility of Israeli entities and their activities in the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967 for grants, prizes and financial instruments funded by the EU from 2014 onwards’. See: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/sites/near/files/guidelines_on_the_eligibility_of_israeli_entities_and_their_activities_in_the_territories_occupied_by_israel_since_june_1967.pdf
- [2] https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/690133
- [3] datahub.geocradle.eu/sites/default/files/SSL_IL_0.csv
- [4] http://geocradle.eu/en/gc-regional-workshop-telaviv/