Brussels, 25/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 24 February, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini called for the urgent implementation of the Minsk II agreement by Russia and the separatists, and she brandished the threat of new sanctions.
“We will be steadfast in our action against further violence and stand easy to take appropriate action in case the fighting and other violations of the Minsk agreements continue”, Mogherini stated at a conference in London. “The violence is not over yet. Russia and the separatists in Ukraine need to urgently implement the Minsk agreement. They must start by observing the ceasefire and withdrawing their weapons”, she said.
On 25 February France's foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, stated that an attack on Mariupol would lead to new sanctions. “We have told the Russians clearly, if there is another separatist attack in the direction of Mariupol, things would be completely turned upside down in terms of sanctions”, he said. “It would then mean that at the European level the issue of sanctions would be raised again”, he added.
During a telephone conversation on 24 February, Mogherini and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon discussed the need to coordinate the ongoing efforts for supporting implementation of the Minsk agreement and for strengthening the special monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Mogherini said that the EU was currently working with a view to increasing its support mission so that it might fully play its role on the ground. “We are working, with our delegation in Kiev and all our services, to strengthen the OSCE in view of its expanded role on monitoring”, she said. The EU is already providing the OSCE mission with substantial financial and practical support. Meeting in Paris on 24 February, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France called for the OSCE mission to be strengthened (see EUROPE 11261).
Strengthening cooperation between European Parliament and Verkhovna Rada. Elsewhere, at the start of the first meeting of the EU-Ukraine parliamentary association committee on 24 February, European Parliament President Martin Schulz announced the strengthening of cooperation between his institution and the Ukrainian Parliament (the Verkhovna Rada). “Our cooperation and our common work are developing on a strong basis”, he said. Schulz announced that he had agreed with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Groysman, to implement a programme for strengthening capacity. “Both parties should deepen their technical cooperation and the cooperation between their infrastructures in the coming months”, Schulz stated. Groysman made concrete proposals - such as traineeships, strengthening capacity in the committees, parliamentary groups, and groups for working on legislation - for the development of parliamentary infrastructure. “We should do our utmost to provide the Ukrainian parliament with our knowledge and skills”, Schulz added, stating that the European Parliament was preparing to send the Verkhovna Rada not only MEPs, but also officials and advisers.
Earlier in the day, Groysman had spoken to MEPs in the foreign affairs committee. He asked the European Parliament to support weapons being sent to the Ukrainian army. “Ukraine needs to be armed with defensive - and only defensive - weapons” to protect the Ukrainian territory, he said. “When we receive good quality weapons of defence, then we will we be able to stop the enemy”, he said. He also asked the European Parliament and the European national parliaments to support his country - at the Eastern Partnership summit on 21-22 May, in obtaining the visa-free regime for short-stay Ukrainian citizens.
Speaking about the ongoing reforms in his country, Groysman stated that Ukraine needed “effective reforms to transform the Republic of Ukraine into a modern European country”. He said that the parliament should become the “engine for reforms”, and underlined that while the priority was to bring recovery to the economy, it would be impossible without international aid. During his meeting with the president of the Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula, Groysman said he believed that decentralisation would make Ukraine “stronger”. “The Committee of the Regions can bring a valuable contribution to strengthening cooperation between the local communities and authorities”, he said. (Translation from the original French version)