Speaking ahead of a European Parliament vote on a convention on rules of origin for the Euro-Mediterranean region, Irish GUE/NGL MEP Paul Murphy called on MEPs to withhold their consent on the agreement "until it is sure that goods from the illegal Israeli settlements will not benefit from preferential access to EU markets".

The convention leaves a loophole for products originating from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to potentially enter the EU market as "Israeli products". In the talks, the European Commission did not properly deal with the problem of accurate identification of such goods.

"Settlements are a major tool of occupation. Last year 5 Palestinians, including 2 children, were killed and over a thousand people injured by settlers. Instead of opening the doors for preferential access to EU markets, the doors must be shut and the EU must work to ensure these settlements are dismantled.

GUE/NGL Press Contacts:

David Lundy +32 485 50 58 12

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20

david.lundy@europarl.europa.eu

gabrielle.kavanagh@europarl.europa.eu

European United Left / Nordic Green Left

European Parliamentary Group

www.guengl.eu