Brussels, 09/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has called for a “European diplomatic offensive to address the crises in Syria and in Libya”.
“We need a stronger Europe when it comes to foreign policy”, he announced on Wednesday 9 September, in his State of the Union address before the European Parliament. Stressing that the High Representative for Foreign Affairs has “prepared the ground for such an initiative” with her success in the Iran nuclear talks, he added that Mogherini stands “ready to work closely together with our member states towards peace and stability in Syria and Libya”.
Juncker also called on the MEPs to applaud Syria's neighbours such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, which are making “Herculean efforts”, hosting over 4 million Syrian refugees. On the same day, the Commission launched two new projects for education and food security in favour of 240,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Speaking on behalf of the Council of the EU, the Luxembourg employment minister, Nicolas Schmit, said that the EU has a “fundamental role” to play. “We need a new initiative in the context of the United Nations to put an end to the bloodbath in Syria, to stop terrorism (…). This is the only initiative possible”, added the president of the group, Belgium's Guy Verhofstadt.
Supporting democratic efforts in Ukraine
The Commission President went on to stress that the EU supported the efforts of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. “Anyone who has doubts about our support will see that they are wrong. We have in fact offered the President support and will continue to do so”, Juncker stressed. “The Ukrainians want a corruption-free Ukraine and they can count on our support”, he added.
For the EPP group, Germany's Manfred Weber urged the Europeans to stop the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, from making the crisis in Ukraine into “a frozen conflict”. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)