Brussels, 25/08/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 24 August, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and France's President François Hollande called again for the full and complete respect of the Minsk agreements, including the ceasefire. August was marked by a new escalation in violence in the east of Ukraine.
“Everything must be implemented so that the ceasefire becomes a reality”, Merkel told a joint press conference with Hollande and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, after their meeting which was held on the 25th anniversary of Ukrainian independence. “There is a single rule today. It's the full respect of the Minsk agreements”, Hollande added, saying that although the ceasefire was still not fully respected, it “should be”. “The Minsk agreements must be and can be the basis of a step forward towards peace”, Merkel stated. She and Hollande also highlighted the withdrawal of heavy and light weapons, the need for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to be able to work safely on the ground, and the holding of elections.
Hollande said that for the implementation of the Minsk agreements, other Normandy-format (Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia) meetings would “doubtless” be needed. According to Merkel, it will be necessary “to have a Normandy-format conversation”, in the presence of Russia's President Vladimir Putin, not excluding a physical meeting and not by telephone.
And while Poland's President Andrzej Duda called again on 14 August for an enlarged Normandy format to include Ukraine's neighbouring countries, Poroshenko said that the Normandy format was “the most effective” and that there was “no need for a new format”. He added that there was “no alternative to the Minsk process”. “We are convinced that the Minsk process, which is based on the peace plan, is an absolutely universal instrument”, he said.
On 24 August, the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stated that “at this stage”, the EU supported the efforts to apply the Minsk agreements within the deadline of the end of 2015, in the Normandy format and trilateral contact groups.
Poroshenko will visit Brussels on 27 August where he will meet European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (see EUROPE 11372), European Council President Donald Tusk and Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)