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Good morning,
We have a full day ahead with the European Council.
First, of course, competitiveness and energy issues, and then we have a discussion also over lunch about the economic imbalances that we are seeing in the European Union. So, what we can do about this? Of course, we have our tools in the toolbox, and we will discuss not only what is the state of play, but what we can also do about these things.
Then in the evening we will have an enlargement discussion.
There, it is really important that we do not bilateralise the enlargement process. If we look at the enlargement process as such, Europe is a very small continent. We actually need to be stronger together with those countries that are in Europe.
On Monday, we had a discussion with the Foreign Ministers, also about the security aspects of enlargement and what these countries are bringing to the security of the European Union once they join. So, I expect also a thorough discussion there, what we need to do on our side.
Let us see if we also manage to discuss the Middle East. There, I want to also stress that we can be and are a security provider in the region. But we need more ships to our Operation ASPIDES that is doing the escorting from the Red Sea. And of course, Ukraine, we will discuss tomorrow.
Q&A
Q. President Zelensky has said this morning to the FT that he plans to attack Russian refineries again. Do you think this is the right thing to do?
The majority of Russia’s funding for the war comes from oil revenue. So clearly, Ukraine wants this war to stop, and that is why cutting off the funding for the war is the way to do it. We see that we should squeeze Russia, not Ukraine, to surrender to end this war. And there we have been very committed. This Monday we adopted 1,600 listings again, and we are working on the 22nd package. This is the only way to put the pressure on Russia.
Q. [inaudible] How important for [inaudible] the Middle Corridor [inaudible]. And two days ago, in Luxembourg, Foreign Ministers spoke about the role of [inaudible] and how important it is for the European Union. Georgia is a part of this region. What can you say about it [inaudible].
I think today we have a lot of topics on the agenda, and mostly competitiveness, energy, all these topics that you mentioned, which means that I do not think that we have in-depth discussions about Georgia or the Black Sea. Although, it will come up in terms of security issues. But yes, there are so many issues that are concerning Europe right now.
Q. Do you still trust the US? Because we saw the deal with Trump and Putin regarding diesel and now we have Starlink [inaudible]. Are they still a reliable partner in regards to Ukraine?
We definitely have [a] different approach to this war. We see that we have to pressure the aggressor to stop the war, not the victim to surrender. Squeezing Ukraine is not the right approach, and that is why Europe is standing by Ukraine. And by the way, this has been going on for over one year already, and Europe has stood by Ukraine, and that is why Russia has not achieved the goals that they want to, even by these deals that they have had, because Europe is the strong player here. That is why I have also proposed to the Foreign Ministers, and we had the discussions regarding our requests to Russia, to send a clear message that all these things that they are interested in the frozen assets, lifting of the sanctions – it is actually up to Europeans to decide, and these things are not given for free to them. So, Europe is the strong player and really need to show that.
Q. On enlargement, would you welcome Britain rejoining the EU?
Of course, all our friends are welcome to join. The discussions also with our partners like Canada, like UK, but also Norway, Iceland, that want deeper relationships with the European Union – we should have thorough discussions how to actually have our friends on board. But of course, everybody who wants to join is welcome to do so.
Q. [inaudible]
We had discussions on Monday, and we decided to open a new mission for Lebanon. But a lot of questions remain regarding southern Lebanon and the security vacuum that might be there after the end of UNIFIL mandate. We need to see what we can do there. And then also in the Middle East, the attacks of Houthis are indiscriminate attacks, are totally unacceptable, but we are also a security provider in the region via our Operation ASPIDES. What we are pushing also the Member States, is to bring more ships on Operation ASPIDES, so that we can escort more ships out of the Bab el-Mandeb and out of the Red Sea because it is a vital trade route.
Q. Regarding the GCC Summit: Any updates, any fresh information? And what the EU can do for the GCC as the security provider?
As a security provider, we have the Operation ASPIDES, and we are strengthening this Operation to actually provide more escorts to the ships in the Red Sea. We have these discussions also with our Gulf partners who are interested in us being there. Also, regarding the security architecture after these wars are over. The Gulf partners really see a clear role also for European Union there in these discussions. And when it comes to the Gulf Cooperation Council-EU Summit, these discussions are ongoing at the moment. So, you will hear once there is something to announce.
Source: www.eeas.europa.eu
