Brussels, 04/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Belgrade on Thursday 3 December, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the need to implement the Minsk agreements fully.
During the OSCE meeting, Mogherini called for progress in resolving the Ukrainian crisis. “Only (the) complete implementation (of the Minsk agreements) can guarantee that this crisis will not turn into another protracted conflict”, Mogherini stated, as reported in a press release from the European External Action Service (EEAS). “It is time for the participants in the trilateral contact group (Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE) and its sub-groups to show determination and achieve concrete progress”, she said.
Mogherini stated that the holding of local elections in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions must be in accordance with Ukrainian law and relevant OSCE standards. They should also be monitored by the OSCE institution for promoting human rights (the ODIHR) and will be “a crucial test”, she said.
Mogherini again called for the end of actions preventing the OSCE observers from having access to certain areas - particularly the areas controlled by the pro-Russian separatists and those along the border with the Russian Federation.
During a hearing at the European Parliament the same day, the chair of the foreign affairs committee Elmar Brok (EPP, Germany), the chair of the sub-committee on security and defence Anna Fotyga (ECR, Poland) and the leader of the Parliament delegation at the EU-Ukraine parliamentary association committee Andrej Plenkovic (EPP, Croatia) called on the Russian authorities “to show their commitment urgently to fulfilling all the points targeted” by the Minsk agreements. Brok, Fotyga and Plenkovic also underlined that there were still numerous efforts to be made in order to have full implementation of these agreements - including on the Ukrainian side. Kiev must thus continue its commitment to the constitutional reforms, especially as regards decentralisation, they stated.
Elsewhere, a Commission spokesperson said on Thursday 3 December that during his meeting in Paris with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko on 1 December, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stated that the fight against corruption should remain a priority for the Ukrainian government. Progress in the area of corruption is needed for Ukraine to be able to benefit from visa liberalisation. The EU underlines the importance of swiftly having an independent anti-corruption prosecutor's office and a national anti-corruption office which are totally operational.
The EU-Ukraine Association Council will be held in Brussels on 7 December. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)