BICOM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Brussels on 11 December to give a speech to the monthly meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers, the first visit by an Israeli Prime Minister since 1995.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon described the visit as “extremely important because it is a unique occasion to meet 28 foreign ministers and the important actors of the EU in Brussels”.

Netanyahu will be able to “present Israel’s position with regard to the strategic challenges and issues that we face in the region,” adding that “it is a unique occasion to strengthen and enhance the ties between Israel and the EU.”

Netanyahu’s visit to Brussels will follow a meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron on 10 December. On Sunday, Netanyahu spoke with Macron and the Prime Minister’s Office said they discussed “the nuclear deal with Iran, Iran’s efforts to establish itself and Syria, and its [other] actions in the region”.

Iran and the  Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) nuclear deal are likely to be high on the agenda of Netanyahu’s Brussels meeting. The EU continues to support the deal, while Netanyahu has called for certain aspects of it to be fixed. At a meeting in early November with Prime Minister Theresa May, Netanyahu said: “The goal that I have in mind is not keeping or eliminating the deal. It’s improving the deal and correcting its main flaws”.

In July, during a meeting with the Visegrad Group of Hungary, Poland the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Netanyahu severely criticised the EU and its attempts to condition relations with Israel based on progress in peace talks. Netanyahu said, “I think Europe has to decide if it wants to live and thrive or if it wants to shrivel and disappear”. His comments were reported because his microphone was accidentally switched on and journalists, who had left the room, were able to hear them.