Good afternoon.
We just concluded the Foreign Affairs Council. There were many important issues on the agenda, and we had very good discussions.
So first on Ukraine. Russia’s bombing campaign has reached record levels, and we see an increasing use of banned chemical weapons by Russia in Ukraine. All this shows that Russia does not want peace. In response, the EU is set to approve one of its toughest sanctions packages against Russia.
I am really sad that we did not reach this agreement today. I must say that we were really close. To reassure Slovakia, the Commission has delivered what they asked for. Now the ball is in Slovakia’s court, and we must get this deal done. It has been already two months.
Sanctions are necessary to starve Russia of the means to wage this war, and the European Union will keep rising the cost. Stopping its aggression becomes the only path forward to Moscow.
We welcome President Trump’s announcement to send more weapons to Ukraine, although we would like to see the US share the burden. America and Europe are working together, and if we are working together, this can put the pressure on Putin to negotiate seriously. The only way to get Putin to end this war is to force his hand.
Last week also brought some other important commitments. We had the Rome conference for Reconstruction, and this conference pledged €10 billion to help rebuild Ukraine. The Coalition of the Willing reassurance force will help Ukraine defend itself against any future attack of Russia. The message is very clear. Russia’s efforts are wasted. Europe is wholly committed to Ukraine.
Then the second big topic we had, of course, was the Middle East. So last week, Israel and the European Union reached an understanding for the expansion of the humanitarian aid into Gaza.
We see positive signs. We see more trucks and supplies are reaching Gaza. We see more entry points opened. We also see electricity lines being repaired. But Israel needs to take more concrete steps to improve the humanitarian situation on the ground.
The European Union will keep a close watch on how Israel implements this common understanding and the pledges and will update the compliance every two weeks. As we go forward, Ministers made clear, that ceasefire and hostage release still remain a priority.
At the request of the European Council, I also presented Ministers an inventory of different measures that could be taken in relation to the review done in June. We had a discussion on this. These are choices that the Member States have to make.
We will keep these options on the table and stand ready to act if Israel does not live up to its pledges. The aim is not to punish Israel. The aim is to really improve the situation in Gaza.
On Iran, Ministers reiterated that Iran should not have any nuclear weapons, and diplomacy is the best way and long-term approach to achieve this goal. While the ceasefire is fragile, it offers an opportunity to resume the negotiations, and Ministers urged immediately to restart the talks and allow also the United Nations inspectors back in. So, the European Union is ready to negotiate.
On Georgia, the assault on democracy by Georgian Dream is growing more severe. Today, Ministers took stock of EU support to civil society and discussed different options on what more we can do. These include suspending the visa free regime, the Association Agreement and [the adoption of] sanctions. Georgia’s democratic back backsliding will come at cost.
And finally, Moldova. The first ever Moldova-EU Summit was earlier this month, and it underscored that the European Union is fully committed to Moldova’s EU accession. Moldova is now preparing for very high-stakes parliamentary elections, coming [up] in autumn, and these polls will be a prime target of Moscow’s hybrid war.
So today we had good discussion on that. And today, Ministers also agreed to impose sanctions on people and entities that aim to destabilise Moldova. We also agreed to deliver more counter hybrid support, especially before the elections.
This shows that European Union is determined to safeguard Moldova’s democratic process against external interference.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-275240