Diplomats representing the European Union have stated their estimation that any EU response to an Israeli decision to apply sovereignty to Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley will be relatively light.
"If Israel goes forward with applying sovereignty, any punitive steps the European Union takes in response will be economic in nature and measured in extent," the Yisrael Hayom newspaper reports today.
According to their diplomatic sources, at the end of the day, the desire of European countries such as Germany to maintain historically positive ties with Israel will win out over any desire to exact punishment for taking a step of unilateral annexation, along with the countries' own personal interests in maintaining good ties. The sources even suggested that such interests would in the end convince countries such as Sweden, Ireland, and Luxembourg to drop their plans to impose punitive sanctions on Israel in the event of a declaration of sovereignty.