DUBLIN (Reuters) -Israel has moved the process of securing EU approval for its diaspora bond prospectus to Luxembourg from Ireland amid increasing opposition in Dublin to its central bank’s role in approving the programme on behalf of the European Union.
Irish lawmakers and pro-Palestine campaign groups have called on the central bank to stop facilitating the sale of the bonds over the last year due to Israel’s near two-year military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials.
Israel’s diaspora bonds are relatively small and sold mainly in Jewish communities around the world to help supplement the state’s bond sales that finance its budget deficit that has risen due to the war. Israel launched a diaspora bond campaign in October 2023 to raise money amid the conflict.
Non-EU countries must choose one EU member state to apply to for approval of a prospectus where securities are traded in the EU and Ireland’s central bank had been asked to approve Israel’s diaspora bond programme each year since 2021.
A joint committee of Irish lawmakers recommended in August that the government seek to amend EU regulations so as to allow each individual European central bank to refuse to act as the competent authority for such bond prospectuses.
Protestors have also demonstrated outside the central bank’s offices.
Ireland is one of the most pro-Palestinian EU member states. It officially recognised a Palestinian state last year and the government is drafting legislation on restricting trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Irish central bank had consistently said it is legally obliged to approve any prospectus once the relevant conditions are met.
In a letter to a lawmaker published by the central bank, Governor Gabriel Makhlouf said the approval for Israel’s programme would be transferred to Luxembourg upon the expiry of the prior year’s prospectus on Monday.
The new prospectus published on the website of Israel Bonds, the country’s borrowing vehicle for diaspora bonds, said its programme for the next year had been approved by Luxembourg.
Israel’s finance ministry did not immediately comment on the reasons for moving its EU bond prospectus approval.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Additional reporting by Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Editing by Toby Chopra)
