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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epsteinbd who wrote (13428)	4/11/2002 5:33:53 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23908

You'd better think twice before pulling the plug on Euro wares... As I said --and as the following article shows-- when Europe sneezes, Israel gets the flu... You don't want to cut off Israel's air supply, now do you?? EU sanctions debate hurts economy Background By Tal Muscal (April 11) - Despite the European Parliament's inability to force its member governments to place economic sanctions on Israel and suspend formal economic ties, government officials and leading business figures claimed the mere discussion of such a move by Israel's largest trading partner would damage an already weak economy. "There is a bad smell in the air of a general embargo, one that threatens our trade with all of Europe, spreading to other key markets," said Dan Gillerman, president of the Federation of Israel Chambers of Commerce (FICC). "The call for sanctions could lead other countries independently to set aside their economic ties with us, leading to less investment in the Israeli economy." According to Central Bureau of Statistics figures, Israel's exports to the 15-nation union totaled $7.7 billion in 2001, accounting for over 26 percent of all exports. Sales of Israeli products to the European continent on the whole reached $9.3b., some 32% of total exports. "This is by far the most important destination for our products, and the debate by EU lawmakers over possible sanctions will hurt our credibility," said a senior economist at the Foreign Ministry. "No one expects the EU to actually stoop to such a level of placing sanctions on us, but other nations may decide to take their own action, possibly damaging our economy further." Even though goods and services imported from the EU accounted for 42% ($13.9b.) of all imports last year (52% for the European continent), the suspension of bilateral customs agreements making European-made products less attractive would have a negligible effect on the EU. "EU sales to Israel account for about 1% of their exports - not a huge loss for this group of nations," the official noted. As a sign of how the sanctions debate is affecting individual countries, Volvo AB of Sweden has been reported to be considering halting the sale of 150 trucks to Israel. The trucks, used by the IDF, would be classified as war materiel, a Swedish daily reported yesterday. jpost.com