"Not only do we have painful memories, but we also have a radiant future ahead of us," said David Ben-Gurion to Gideon Rafael on his departure as the first Israeli ambassador to the European Community (EC). In February 1959, Israel and the EC (then still the European Economic Community) established diplomatic relations. Step by step, both sides have developed this relationship and consolidated it through a number of treaties: in 1975 a free trade agreement came into effect, in October 1995 the European Commission and the Israeli Government agreed to collaborate in the field of research and development, and in June 2000 an Association Agreement between Israel and the European Union (EU) came into force. Moreover, Israel was the first state with which Brussels negotiated on a plan of action within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Israel’s membership of the Union for the Mediterranean, which was set up in 2008 on the initiative of the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is more multilateral in its orientation.

Published in DE Magazin Deutschland, Issue 2/2012, pp. 46-47. You can read the entire article here.