The European Union and Israel: political and legal problems of scientific and technological cooperation in modern conditions

Abstract

The subject of the study is the complications in scientific and technological cooperation (STC) between the EU and Israel due to Israeli military actions in the Gaza area and their extremely negative humanitarian consequences. The purpose of the article is to reveal and systematize the political and legal problems that have arisen in the scientific and technological cooperation between the EU and Israel against the background of the unprecedented escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in 2023-2024. In a consistent form, the authors analyze the legal foundations of Israel's participation in the EU framework programs in the field of STC and determine the degree of its integration into the European Research Space. The specifics of the range of projects involving Israel in the EU framework programs are demonstrated, as well as the discussion points of the possible exclusion of Israel from participation in EU projects and programs in the field of STC are considered. The authors reveal in detail the factors that determine the specifics of the EU's scientific diplomacy towards Israel in the context of the current escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The achievement of the set goal and the solution of the research tasks was based on the use of the following methodological base: the principle of historicism, the historical and legal method, the formal dogmatic method, the comparative method, the systematic approach, the modeling method and the forecasting method. The authors of the article concluded that there are sufficient legal instruments at the EU level to exclude Israeli scientific institutions and military companies from EU projects that develop dual-use technologies as a measure aimed at forcing Israel to change its policy towards the Gaza Strip. However, the European Commission does not intend to introduce restrictive measures, to adjust its traditional scientific diplomacy towards Israel, or to develop recommendations addressed to European scientific institutions, taking into account the current political situation. A special contribution of the article to the relevant field of research was that the authors explain the EU's position by the action of the following factors, namely the activity of the pro-Israel lobby, Germany's special approach to cooperation with Israel, the lack of unity within the EU academic community and, finally, the prospects for the militarization of European programs in the field of STC.