Slovenian minister condemned the American rejection of visas for the Palestinian delegation before the UN meeting

Copenhagen – Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon condemned the U.S. decision to deny visas to Palestinian representatives ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly session. At an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Denmark, she expects a strong joint response from the EU to this U.S. move.

As she stated upon her arrival at the meeting in Copenhagen, the U.S. decision not to issue visas for the Palestinian delegation led by President Mahmoud Abbas to participate in the September general debate of leaders at the start of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York is a significant concern for her. Abbas is supposed to address both the Security Council and the UN General Assembly, and member states of the global organization will decide on potential new recognitions of Palestine as an independent and sovereign state.

At the informal meeting of the union’s foreign ministers, Fajon expects not only a joint response to the U.S. decision but also a continuation of the discussion on actions against Israel for human rights violations in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, where the Israeli military is intensifying attacks.

She will urge her ministerial colleagues to follow Slovenia’s example, which, in the absence of action at the EU level in recent months, has taken measures at the national level. Among other things, Slovenia has imposed a ban on the import, export, and transit of arms to and from Israel, as well as a ban on the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and has declared two extreme Israeli ministers as undesirable persons.

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas does not expect a breakthrough in discussions on actions at the EU level. However, ministers cannot make decisions as this is an informal meeting. (August 30)