Check against delivery! 

Good afternoon. 

We just concluded the Foreign Affairs Council. There were many important issues on the agenda, and we had very good discussions.  

So first on Ukraine. Russia's bombing campaign has reached record levels, and we see an increasing use of banned chemical weapons by Russia in Ukraine. All this shows that Russia does not want peace. In response, the EU is set to approve one of its toughest sanctions packages against Russia. 

I am really sad that we did not reach this agreement today. I must say that we were really close. To reassure Slovakia, the Commission has delivered what they asked for. Now the ball is in Slovakia's court, and we must get this deal done. It has been already two months. 

Sanctions are necessary to starve Russia of the means to wage this war, and the European Union will keep rising the cost. Stopping its aggression becomes the only path forward to Moscow. 

We welcome President Trump's announcement to send more weapons to Ukraine, although we would like to see the US share the burden. America and Europe are working together, and if we are working together, this can put the pressure on Putin to negotiate seriously. The only way to get Putin to end this war is to force his hand. 

Last week also brought some other important commitments. We had the Rome conference for Reconstruction, and this conference pledged €10 billion to help rebuild Ukraine. The Coalition of the Willing reassurance force will help Ukraine defend itself against any future attack of Russia. The message is very clear. Russia's efforts are wasted. Europe is wholly committed to Ukraine. 

Then the second big topic we had, of course, was the Middle East. So last week, Israel and the European Union reached an understanding for the expansion of the humanitarian aid into Gaza. 

We see positive signs. We see more trucks and supplies are reaching Gaza. We see more entry points opened. We also see electricity lines being repaired. But Israel needs to take more concrete steps to improve the humanitarian situation on the ground. 

The European Union will keep a close watch on how Israel implements this common understanding and the pledges and will update the compliance every two weeks. As we go forward, Ministers made clear, that ceasefire and hostage release still remain a priority.  

At the request of the European Council, I also presented Ministers an inventory of different measures that could be taken in relation to the review done in June. We had a discussion on this. These are choices that the Member States have to make. 

We will keep these options on the table and stand ready to act if Israel does not live up to its pledges. The aim is not to punish Israel. The aim is to really improve the situation in Gaza. 

On Iran, Ministers reiterated that Iran should not have any nuclear weapons, and diplomacy is the best way and long-term approach to achieve this goal. While the ceasefire is fragile, it offers an opportunity to resume the negotiations, and Ministers urged immediately to restart the talks and allow also the United Nations inspectors back in. So, the European Union is ready to negotiate. 

On Georgia, the assault on democracy by Georgian Dream is growing more severe. Today, Ministers took stock of EU support to civil society and discussed different options on what more we can do. These include suspending the visa free regime, the Association Agreement and [the adoption of] sanctions. Georgia's democratic back backsliding will come at cost. 

And finally, Moldova. The first ever Moldova-EU Summit was earlier this month, and it underscored that the European Union is fully committed to Moldova's EU accession. Moldova is now preparing for very high-stakes parliamentary elections, coming [up] in autumn, and these polls will be a prime target of Moscow's hybrid war. 

So today we had good discussion on that. And today, Ministers also agreed to impose sanctions on people and entities that aim to destabilise Moldova. We also agreed to deliver more counter hybrid support, especially before the elections.  

This shows that European Union is determined to safeguard Moldova's democratic process against external interference. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-275240 

 

 

These negotiations have been ongoing for quite some time. As you see, the President of the Commission also sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Slovakia reiterating all the things that were really addressing the concerns that they had. So far, it seemed okay. So, I do not know what happened in between, probably something in domestic politics, but it is important that we stick to these points. If you go into negotiations over worries you have, and if your sensitivities are addressed, then it is important that you do not present anything on top of it. Thank you. 

 

No, I was hoping for today. In the end, we really made one final push for that as well. Tomorrow is the discussion also on the technical level, so yes, I am optimistic and still hopeful that we will reach the decision tomorrow. I want to emphasise that this has been going on for two months, trying to find a solution. And I think the messages, also that come from different parts of the world, are really understanding that we need to put the pressure on Russia, so we should also deliver on that. But at the same time, while I am saying this, we have 27 different democracies, with 27 different public opinions and oppositions as well, so we need to navigate in that process. But I'm still hopeful that we will get the decision tomorrow. 

 

It is not up to me to assess whether requests are reasonable or not. Every Prime Minister comes from their own political situation and [with] the worries that are domestically there. So, I would not give my assessment, and it does not matter anyhow, the requests are there. 

When it comes to your other question. It is clear that we need more and more funding to stop this war, and also to really help Ukraine to defend itself. Now, we have very different views on the frozen assets, between the Member States. So, we agreed to have a discussion on frozen assets only in the Gymnich format that we have in August with the Ministers. Because it is important that everybody hears everybody's arguments, and then we can also come up with compromises to address these sensitivities. I think in the end, we all have our own public opinions. We have our taxpayers and our taxpayers are asking, “why is Russia, who is causing all the damage, not paying for this damage, and all the needs that there are?” And this is a fair question.  

 

So, on the chemical weapons. This was the information from the Dutch and German intelligence, that they are using the chemical weapons, and, of course, that it is intensifying. And it is actually public sources as well. The Minister of Defence of the Netherlands has published this. I will not read out the details there, but it was also surprising for me to hear that since the start of the large-scale invasion in 2022, Russia has carried out more than 9,000 chemical weapons attacks on Ukrainian troops. That is quite significant. As these intelligence services are saying that this is intensifying, then I think it is of great, great concern. Again, it shows that Russia wants to cause as much pain and suffering as possible so that Ukraine would surrender. It is really unbearable and that is why we are taking all these steps.  

Now, on your other question, when it comes to the letter to Georgia, as you know, we have the visa-free travel regime for Georgia since 2017. This is a big benefit that the European Union is giving to countries, and therefore, there are recommendations which have been addressed to Georgia in the seventh visa suspension mechanism report. And I will not read it all out here, but I am just putting the point on this, for example, the obligations that Georgian government has to ensure and uphold the protection of fundamental rights of all Georgian citizens, including the freedoms of association, assembly and expression, the right to privacy, the right to participate in public affairs, as well as the prohibition of discrimination. This is just one point, and there are eight points like this. The point being that, as they have a deadline until the end of August to comply with this, then the question is, how do we react if these recommendations have not been fulfilled? And as we hear that, for example, seven opposition leaders out of eight have been put in jail, this is not really in accordance with the first point that I pointed out. So far, we have kept this position that we do not want to hurt Georgian people, and taking away the visa free regime is really having an impact on them. But at the same time, it is also an issue of credibility of the European Union. If we have asked those things, and this is something beneficial or a bonus that we are giving to this country, and they are not complying with these conditions, then there are also consequences, for the public also to see that the government is not on the European path and it is not taking the candidacy status seriously. 

 

If we pay for these weapons, it is our support. It is European support. We are doing as much as we can to help Ukraine and therefore the call is that everybody would do the same. If you promise to give the weapons, but say that somebody else is going to pay for it, it is not really given by you, is it? 

 

It is important, the implementation of the agreement. And yes, we see some worrying signs, but we also see some good signs. Like I said, border crossings have been opened. We see more trucks going in. We see also reparations of the electricity network and such things. But it is clearly not enough, because the situation is still untenable. Now, we agreed that this briefing – our people are in constant contact with the international actors on the ground, Israel, and also the neighbouring countries that are having the control of the crossing points so that they can say, what is the actual numbers that are going in. And we agreed that we are doing this via the PSC ambassadors, so every two weeks they get updates on what is the situation on the ground. Now, the only guarantee we have is that the inventory of all the options that could be taken by the Member States is presented, and if the situation is not going to improve, then the Member States are also willing to take next steps. The goal is to improve the situation, because it is really untenable – the humanitarian situation. We reached this common understanding at the end of last week. Today we are Tuesday. We also heard from our Jordanian counterparts that, yes, there is more aid going in, and we see some positive signs. Of course, we need to do more. That is very clear. And we keep on monitoring this, but we do this hand in hand with our international counterparts who are on the ground, like the World Food Program who are there. What I want to stress is that, why is it much harder right now than it was when there was a ceasefire? Because the war is going on. Also the providers of humanitarian aid are actually at risk. That is why it is so much more complicated. But we are really trying to put the pressure and keep the pressure. And all the Member States are really following up on this. I shared the details of those things. It is not that we are counting every truck all the time but the trend that we see, tangible improvement, though we do not see that. I think that is the overall conclusion. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-275474