Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee called on Friday for an EU-wide ban on trade in illegal Israeli settlements, saying the bloc must send a “strong signal” that such actions are “unacceptable”, reports Anadolu.

“Today at the Foreign Trade Affairs Council, I am calling for an EU-wide ban on trade in illegal settlements. We must to send a strong signal that this behavior is unacceptable and must stop,” McEntee said on the platform of American social media company X.

Speaking ahead of the meeting of the EU’s Foreign Trade Affairs Council, McEntee also said that ministers will discuss European security, the situation in the Middle East and its impact on the bloc’s economic security.

“As always, many things on the agenda,” she said, adding that the discussions will focus in particular on “overall European security, particularly in the context of the ongoing situation in the Middle East and the impact on our overall economic security”.

McEntee also said that ministers will discuss the need for further reforms in the World Trade Organization, which Ireland plans to prioritize during its next presidency of the Council of the European Union.

“Of course we will discuss the need for reforms.” further at the WTO and this is something we will continue to advance during our presidency, which we will undertake in the coming weeks,” she said.

The Irish minister also welcomed recent progress on the implementation of the EU-US trade declaration following an agreement reached last week.

“It is a really positive move towards the implementation of the EU-US declaration,” she said.

Source: prizrenpost