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The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), which calls for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, reached nearly 1.3 million signatures on its final day, Wednesday.
The initiative launched by the European Left Alliance on January 13, 2026, calling for the complete suspension of the partnership agreement between the European Union and Israel, on the grounds of Israel’s “policies of genocide, occupation and apartheid” against the Palestinian people, in addition to its violation of international law and human rights, has reportedly ended.
The initiative managed to collect approximately 1.3 million signatures from citizens in 13 EU member states.
After being officially registered with the European Commission, the initiative succeeded in exceeding the one million signature mark and achieving the minimum required number of signatures in at least 7 member states.
After the signature collection phase is over, the verification phase will now begin.
Each EU member state will have two months to verify the signatures collected within its territory.
If the threshold of one million signatures is confirmed or exceeded, the European Commission will be obliged to provide an official response to the initiative within 6 months.
The European Citizens' Initiative is one of the most prominent mechanisms that allows citizens to participate directly in democratic processes within the European Union.
Under the system in place since 2012, the European Commission must examine any application that receives one million valid signatures from a total of 7 or more member states.
Although this mechanism does not obligate the commission to submit a new draft law, it does compel it to clarify its political position on the issue in question and provide a justified response regarding it.
EU-Israel Association Agreement
The EU-Israel Association Agreement, which grants Tel Aviv special trade privileges, has been one of the most controversial issues since October 8, 2023, when Israel began committing genocide in Gaza.
After a long period during which EU institutions ignored popular calls to suspend the agreement, Brussels responded in part by launching a formal review of the agreement by the European Commission last year.
This review was initiated by the Netherlands in May 2025, and supported by Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
The review concluded that Israel had committed violations of international law in the Gaza Strip, but the European Union did not translate these findings into concrete political steps.
Proposals to impose limited sanctions on Israel were later frozen on the grounds of giving the ceasefire process a chance.
It is worth noting that the genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, with American support, has resulted in the martyrdom of more than 73,000 Palestinians and the injury of more than 173,000, in addition to widespread destruction affecting about 90 percent of the civilian infrastructure, while the United Nations estimated the cost of reconstruction at about $70 billion.
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