European leaders discussed the situation in Ukraine on Friday 27 October. An opportunity to show that despite the many global crises, they are not forgetting this candidate country for membership of the European Union, which is facing military aggression from Russia.
“Support for Ukraine is a priority for us and will remain so”, assured the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the end of the meeting.
“The European Union will continue to provide strong financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes”, the leaders emphasised in the conclusions they adopted. In particular, they focus on military support. “There was talk of short-term armed support - there is a critical need at the moment - but also, in the longer term, of strengthening the European arms and munitions industry”, said the Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo.
However, Hungary and Slovakia have reservations about military aid to Ukraine. Budapest is still blocking the 8th tranche of the ‘European Peace Facility’ (see EUROPE 13277/5). The new Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, has warned that his government will not accept military aid to Ukraine and, at the same time, will demand a very rigorous analysis of any EU sanctions against Russia that could harm the Slovak Republic.
In its conclusions, however, the European Council called for sanctions to be stepped up. “Russia’s ability to wage its war of aggression must be further weakened, including by further strengthening sanctions, and through their full and effective implementation and the prevention of their circumvention, especially for high-risk goods, in close cooperation with partners and allies”, it warns.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, confirmed that the EU institution is preparing the 12th sanctions package through ongoing consultations with the Member States. “In particular, we are looking into how to cut remaining revenues Russia has from diamond exports to Europe and its partners”, she announced, adding that this would be done in close collaboration with the G7 partners.
The leaders also called for progress on the use of frozen Russian assets. According to Mr Michel, “there is a shared desire to take a decisive step forward on this issue”.
“Decisive progress is needed, in coordination with partners, on how any extraordinary revenues held by private entities stemming directly from Russia’s immobilised assets could be directed to support Ukraine and its recovery and reconstruction, consistent with applicable contractual obligations, and in accordance with EU and international law”, explains the European Council. It calls on the High Representative of the Union and the Commission to speed up work with a view to presenting specific legislative proposals.
According to Mrs von der Leyen, the Commission is working on a proposal that will initially focus on the windfall profits generated by frozen Russian assets. “In other words, we will present a proposal to find a way how to use the proceeds from those assets that are currently benefiting a limited number of financial institutions in the European Union. These windfall profits are already quite substantial. The idea is to pool them and channel them through the EU budget ‘en bloc’ to Ukraine and for the reconstruction of Ukraine”, she explained.
In total, the EU has tied up €211 billion of Russian sovereign assets.
Asked about the meeting between Mr Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ms von der Leyen said that the general message from the leaders was that, while “in general, a leader is sovereign and free to choose his interlocutors”, what the EU needs is “close coordination and transparency, if the content of the discussion affects the EU and the unity of the EU”.
To see the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/9b5 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with the editorial staff)