Finland’s largest supermarket chain has permanently stopped selling Israeli goods
S Group, the largest grocery store chain in Finland, announced that it will stop selling goods coming from Israel, according to what was reported by the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation.
The company’s statement said: “S Group will no longer sell goods from Israel.” Reports indicated that the decision is related to the European Commission’s proposal to suspend the trade sections of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel.
According to statements by Nina Illoma, the company’s director of sustainability, “S Group It is closely monitoring the progress of the peace negotiations and European Union decisions and is ready to reconsider its decision if necessary.
It is noteworthy that last September, the European Commission submitted a proposal to the European Council calling for the suspension of trade privileges granted to Israel and the imposition of sanctions on far-right ministers in the Israeli government and “violent settlers.”
The Commission explained that this proposal comes after a review of Israel’s compliance with Article 2 of the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Union. And Israel, which concluded that the Israeli government’s actions constitute a violation of basic elements related to respect for the principles of human rights and democracy, which authorizes the European Union to unilaterally suspend the agreement.
According to the statement, the suspension includes the basic provisions related to trade in the agreement, which practically means that imports from Israel will lose their preferential access to the European market, and therefore, these goods will be subject to customs duties at the same level as countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the European Union.
These trade measures would have resulted in the event of Adopted by European Union member states, it increased the cost of some Israeli imports, especially agricultural ones, by approximately 227 million euros. These sanctions will only affect 37% of these imports if the twenty-seven countries agree, especially in the food industry sector.
The European Union is Israel’s largest trading partner, representing 32% (15.9 billion euros) of Israel’s total exports of goods in 2024, while Israel is the European Union’s 31st trading partner.
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