The European Union has brought 65 companies to Israel Monday and Tuesday to strengthen relations despite the controversy over its policy to bar grants for activities in Judea and Samaria.
The “Mission for Growth” was headed by European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani and is focused on space technologies, information and communication technology and tourism.
There is great potential for cooperation in this area because Israel resides in an area suffering from a shortage of water. Tajani met with Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett Tuesday to open an EU-Israel” Business Round Table” and sign a “letter of intent” on industrial cooperation.
The mission is in stark contrast to the EU’s policy to officially bar grants for activities in Judea and Samaria, but the European Union has denied that its objections to a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria are designed to stop Israeli companies from operating there.
“There is no requirement in the guidelines that states that beneficiaries of EU grants not operate in the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967,’ the EU stated to a pro-Arab website.