Brussels, 20/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - Called to Brussels by High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, the EU ministers for foreign affairs reached a political agreement, on Thursday 20 February, on the EU's response to the escalation of violence in Ukraine. A new day of clashes between government forces and protesters in Ukraine has cost the lives of dozens of victims.
The Council conclusions give a political green light to sanctions against the perpetrators of human rights violations. The sanctions involve a freeze on assets, and a ban on visas for the perpetrators, and the suspension of export licences for equipment used for the crackdown in Ukraine. This warning primarily aims to lead to Ukraine's stabilisation so that a calmer political dialogue can be embarked upon, Ashton stated.
The conclusions - which were fairly concise - formalise the criteria for defining a list of people using excessive violence, and who are therefore eligible for international sanctions. This decision is not immediately applicable so as to allow legal experts to make the sanctions legally sound in the coming days, and so as to allow the EU representatives in Kiev to provide a list of people concerned. The assets in Europe of these people will also be frozen. A complete description of weapons, which can be used for the crackdown and for which the export licences will be suspended, is also given in the conclusions.
Another path of “positive measures”, put forward by Poland - the facilitation of granting European visas to Ukrainian civil society - was also discussed, but was not, however, taken up. The arsenal of targeted weapons that was presented aims primarily to stop the radicalisation on the ground and to support a return to calm so that a political and democratic dialogue can be resumed.
Alongside this, the foreign ministers from Germany, France and Poland - Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Laurent Fabius and Radoslaw Sikorski respectively - who travelled to Kiev on Thursday morning before returning to Brussels, were obliged to prolong their trip given the dramatic turn of events on Thursday. A delegation of MEPs is also in Ukraine - including Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE, Belgium), Elmar Brok (EPP, Germany), and Rebecca Harms (Greens/EFA, Germany).
Despite the sanctions that are planned by the European delegations, the offer to Ukraine of strengthened cooperation with the EU still stands, said a diplomatic source on Thursday.
Meanwhile, diplomatic dialogue between the EU and Russia continues, discussions go on about the violence in Kiev. Russia's President Vladimir Putin has also rushed a mediator to the ground. The USA is monitoring the EU's steps closely, with the tandem approach still being preferred, according to a Community source. (MD/EH/transl.fl)