Between Normative Power and Soft Power: the Psagot case

Abstract

The Psagot judgment, handed down by the European Court of Justice (CJEU) in 2019, provides that products originating in Israeli settlements in territories Israel occupied during regional wars, exported to the EU, should be labelled as such, to allow consumers make an informed political choice. This article argues that the Psagot judgment thus reinforces normative, 'top-down' governmental power with soft, 'bottom-up' consumer power. Psagot's implications for Israel-EU relations is discussed along with the effectiveness of the EU approach in the short and longer terms.