A pro-Israel member of the European Parliament, Fulvio Martusciello, has managed to introduce a clause into complex legal policy that could protect Israel against boycotts in Europe.

Mr Martusciello is the chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Israel, but he is also  Rappporteur for the Competition Policy Report in the Economic Committee of the European Parliament.

Mr Martusciello has inserted into the report a statement which does not mention Israel but underlines the need for the EU “to fight against unfair collective boycotts, defined as a situation in which a group of competitors agree to exclude an actual or potential competitor, as restrictions of competition by object”.

A spokesperson for Mr Martusciello confirmed that the clause was introduced by him to “translate for the first time into EU commercial policy the stated objections of EU leaders to BDS,” an acronym for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

Mr Martusciello’s initiative was supported by his political bloc, the centre-right EPP, the largest such group in the European Parliament.

It marks the first time that opposition to boycott on commercial grounds has been enshrined in European official documents.  

In a separate move, Mr Martusciello is opposing a plan to remove Israel from a list of countries eligible for credit benefits from the European Investment Bank in 2018. The Budget Committee of the European Parliament is also considering removing Brunei, Iceland, Singapore, Chile and South Korea, said to be a group of high-income countries with a high credit rating, which do not need the benefits. It is also said to be considering adding Iran to the list.

But Mr Martusciello says Israel should continue to receive the credit benefits “as this will benefit Palestine, Jordan and other counterparts in such an unstable region”.