European Union foreign ministers have gathered in Brussels with a long-stalled package of sanctions against violent Israeli settlers expected to be unblocked, after a change of government in Hungary ended months of deadlock.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told reporters ahead of the meeting on May 11, 2026, that she anticipated political agreement on the measures, though she cautioned that the required majority was not yet certain.
“I expect political agreement on the sanctions on violent settlers, hopefully we will get there,” Kallas said.
Seven Israeli settlers and settler organisations are set to be blacklisted, EU officials chave said. The bloc is also expected to sanction representatives from Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The package had been held up for months by former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, a long-standing ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who had repeatedly vetoed unanimous EU decisions on the matter.
Orbán’s Fidesz party lost a landslide election to Péter Magyar’s centre-right Tisza party on April 12, 2026, after 16 years in power. Magyar was sworn in as Hungarian Prime Minister on May 9, 2026, and has signalled a less deferential stance towards Israel than his predecessor.
The other 26 member states had already backed the settler sanctions before the Hungarian election. Diplomats said attention now turned to the new Czech Government under right-wing leader Andrej Babiš, whose administration took office late last year and could yet hold up the measure, which requires unanimity.
The occupied West Bank has been gripped by almost daily violence since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, involving both Israeli troops and settlers, according to Palestinian officials and United Nations data.
Attacks by Israeli settlers in the territory have surged further since the start of the 2026 Iran war on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets. A conditional ceasefire in that conflict was declared on April 8, 2026.
While the EU is moving ahead with individual sanctions, there remains no consensus among member states to take further steps against Israel, such as suspending the bloc’s association agreement or curbing trade ties.
The European Commission, led by President Ursula von der Leyen, first tabled wider sanctions proposals in September 2025, including a suspension of preferential trade arrangements estimated to cost Israel about €1 billion a year. Those measures were shelved after a United States-brokered ceasefire in Gaza in late 2025.
A group of member states including Germany, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic has consistently formed a blocking minority against such moves. Berlin and Rome in particular have resisted punitive steps, arguing it is preferable to exhaust dialogue and pressure Israel from within the existing framework.
Kallas is expected to gauge ministers’ appetite for further options at the meeting, including a possible trade ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and other occupied territories, according to a diplomat cited by The Irish Times.
“There seems to be a whiff of a changing momentum, but I’m not sure,” the diplomat was quoted as saying.
