Brussels, 31/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - At the special European Council in Brussels on Saturday 30 August, the EU's leaders paved the way for tighter sanctions against Russia, condemning the escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the “aggression of Russian armed forces on Ukrainian soil”. The summit “calls upon the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw all its military assets and forces from Ukraine”.
In their conclusions document, the leaders noted: “The European Council remains engaged in the monitoring and assessment of the restrictive measures adopted by the European Union” in July “and stands ready to take significant further steps, in light of the evolution of the situation on the ground. It requests the Commission to urgently undertake preparatory work, jointly with the EEAS, and present proposals for consideration within a week. It requests the Commission to include in its proposal a provision on the basis of which every person and institution dealing with the separatist groups in the Donbass will be listed”.
Further, “it calls upon the Russian Federation to immediately withdraw all its military assets and forces from Ukraine”.
After the summit, the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, explained that the new measures would depend on how the situation developed on the ground. This, he said, was being monitored on a daily basis but no precise criteria had been set. In fact, preparatory work has already started, he said, and would intensify in Brussels this week, as well as in the member states. Van Rompuy added that the interest here was in reacting faster than at any time since the outbreak of the crisis and he welcomed the European Council's determination to put pressure on Russia by all possible means to get it to return to the negotiating table, because there was no military solution. What works best, argued the president of the European Council, are restrictive measures, but even this is a source of problems and tensions among the member states, which he described as the price that had to be paid.
Commission President José Manuel Barroso said that unity had emerged on Saturday evening that, if Russia continues to escalate, then it will have a high price to pay. The Commission will unveil other proposals for new restrictive measures, as unanimously requested by the European Council. The sanctions aim to demonstrate to the Russian authorities that their attitude is not acceptable in the 21st century. It does not make sense to enter this type of Cold War, as Barroso said he had made very clear to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Friday. Barroso said that Putin's statements did not chime with the reality on the ground and that a military solution to a crisis like this was not possible. Everyone has to get around the table to make peace, he said, adding that it was not too late, but time would soon run out. He said that the Commission would work flat out to ensure a de-escalation, acting as mediator for the energy and trade disputes.
Invited earlier in the day by the European Council to provide a briefing on the situation on the ground, the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, said that the conflict with the separatists in eastern Ukraine was close to the “point of no return” and said he feared “full-scale war” with Russia. Poroshenko hoped the meeting of the contact group of representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the OSCE scheduled to take place in Minsk on Monday 1 September would enable a cease-fire to be agreed. He welcomed the unity among European leaders on preparing new sanctions against Russia, to be applied if it failed to implement the peace plan.
The French president, François Hollande, said a firm European response was needed, along with dialogue. This firmness would be sanctions, which would be announced and fully applied for an extended period. It will be possible to increase the sanctions, as has been requested at the European Commission, he said, adding that, in terms of dialogue, there would be a meeting of the contact group in Minsk on Monday. Dialogue is always possible, but a basis and a conclusion are needed, said Hollande, and there was no time to lose. He stated that the sanctions were to prevent rather than punish and to get the Russian authorities to resume dialogue.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said there could not be a military solution and the channels of communication had to be kept open to try to obtain a bilateral ceasefire and consider sanctions. In light of the escalation, EU leaders, she said, have to decide on new sanctions in the same sectors as considered thus far, namely finance and energy.
The Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, slammed the EU's “ineffective and counterproductive” sanctions against Russia, and threatened to veto new retaliatory measures.
The military option, including the supply of arms, has been totally ruled out. Merkel said there was consensus and everyone said that a military solution would not take place. The request for military intervention by the EU that was formulated in Kiev this week was relayed by a number of east European countries, headed by Romania and Lithuania. The president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, said on arrival at the summit that Russia was in a state of war with Ukraine, a country that wants to be part of Europe, meaning that Moscow is practically at war with Europe. She called for military supplies to be sent to Ukraine.
Embargo. In its conclusions document, the European Council welcomed “the exceptional measures taken by the Commission to stabilise the EU agricultural and food markets in order to alleviate the effects of the Russian import restrictions on certain EU agricultural products. It invites the Commission to monitor the situation and to consider adopting any further measures, as appropriate”. (EH along with CG, AN, IL, FG and LC)