Brussels, 07/03/2014 (Agence Europe) -The announcement made on 6 March, during the European Council, that a referendum will be held in Ukraine, as well as the prohibition on OSCE observers travelling to Crimea, "changed the physiognomy" of the extraordinary European Council on Ukraine, a number of sources told EUROPE on Friday 7 March. "This is why the leaders took it to the next level up from what the European ministers had decided", one of the sources explained.
There was no conflict in the discussion between the heads of state and government of the EU, which focused mainly on the scale of the sanctions and how to clarify these.
Lithuania was apparently the most in favour of sanctioning Russia. Upon her arrival at the European Council, Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaité lamented the fact that Europe, "which is not always able to understand what is going on", had not taken swift action. She believes that Russia is trying to rewrite the borders of the Second World War. The two other Baltic states seemed to take a similar view. Poland was a little more measured, as it has to take account both of its geographical position and its desire to influence decisions, one source explained. France and the United Kingdom were broadly in favour of sanctions, Germany and Italy a little less so. The Netherlands and Luxembourg were relatively opposed to sanctions, in order to leave the door open to dialogue, but events on the ground have moved the lines a little. The positions of the member states depend on their links with the former USSR and on their economic relations with Russia.
Sources are not ruling out an extraordinary Council of foreign affairs ministers or of heads of state and government, or both.
The president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Henri Malosse, supported the decision of the European Council to keep dialogue as a possibility. "We need to start a deep and frank dialogue with Russia as soon as possible on the most important and urgent three aspects", he explained (events in Crimea, trade aspects of Ukraine's cooperation with Russia and the EU and respecting the specific nature of the various regions of Ukraine in accordance with the principles of European values). "No attempt upon the territorial integrity of Ukraine can be tolerated. We need to stand together in the face of these dangerous separatist tendencies, including a possible referendum, which would run counter to the Ukrainian constitution", Malosse added. (CG)