On Wednesday 11 October, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO secretary general and current adviser to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, urged the EU and its member states to do more to help Ukraine in terms of security and its economy, especially by supplying it with non-lethal equipment.
"Some member states are already training the Ukrainian army, but the soldiers need to obtain equipment such as glasses or the means of communication", he told MEPs during a hearing at the European Parliament's sub-committee on defence. "Ukraine is not under an international arms embargo. More needs to be done to help it. It only acts in self-defence", he said. "The conflict is not a frozen conflict in any way. In reality, this conflict is still going on and it is becoming worse", he said, without entering into detail.
Rasmussen also spoke at length about a possible UN peace mission in eastern Ukraine – which has been proposed by Russia's President Vladimir Putin. "This proposal is a trap, but rather than closing our eyes, we must launch a challenge to Putin and encourage a peace-keeping mission that would really respond to the needs on the ground and that would enable peace to be ensured", he said. "As Europeans, we must engage in the discussions more seriously and we should be ready to send troops who would join the UN peacekeepers, especially member states that are not part of NATO", he said. Rasmussen said that it was first important to encourage the UN secretary general to deploy an evaluation team to Ukraine so as to set the framework of such a mission. Deployment would not need the agreement of the United Nations Security Council and thus there would be no risk of veto.
Rasmussen criticised the EU's attitude to Ukraine. "Up until now, the EU has not taken enough action. Germany and France are engaged in the Normandy-format discussions and the USA has just appointed a special envoy for Ukraine. Where is the EU when it comes to Ukraine?", he asked. While, in Rasmussen's view, setting up an EU special envoy would not be "detrimental", he thought that "the EU could, and should, play a more significant role – not only for implementing the Minsk agreements and ensuring Ukraine becomes a strong democracy, but also on the economic level. That would also be a weapon for fighting against Russia." "The EU should take much more action in economic terms to help Ukraine progress in its reforms, and to reduce the negative (economic) consequences of the reforms", he said, calling for the sanctions against Russia to be strengthened.
He also wanted the EU to send a real message, at the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels on 24 November, to the states that want to become EU members. "Some governments refuse to recognise that countries such as Ukraine or Moldova have European aspirations (...) If we do not propose strengthened partnerships, we risk losing the trust of our Eastern partners", he said. While the conclusions of previous Eastern Partnership summits recognise the European aspirations of certain countries, they do not, however, recognise the possibility of becoming members of the EU. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)