EU leaders at extraordinary summit to work out common understanding of comprehensive, just peace for Ukraine, security guarantees - source
European Union leaders at a special meeting of the European Council dedicated to the security of Ukraine and the European Union want to reach a common understanding of what a comprehensive and just peace for Ukraine is and what common security guarantees can be.
A senior European diplomat told reporters after the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States of the European Union (COREPER). The main issue discussed by the ambassadors was the preparation for the special meeting of the European Council dedicated to the security of Ukraine and the EU, convened by President of the European Council Antonio Costa for March 6 in Brussels.
“All member states clearly support the timely organization of this summit. The conclusions will be divided into two pillars: one on Ukraine and the other on European defense,” he said.
According to a senior European diplomat, the idea for Ukraine is to “achieve a common understanding of what a comprehensive, just and lasting peace is, as well as on common security guarantees, while continuing to demonstrate strong support for Ukraine in achieving the so-called ‘peace through strength.’”
“There was a very clear determination of the 25 member states during today’s discussion,” he said. Without naming the countries, the interlocutor reported that “one member state refuses to even discuss the current conclusions, considering that everything that was said before is no longer valid, using the recently adopted UN Security Council resolution of February 24 as a good reason to restart all our discussions, and then another member state agreed to some of these elements but did not go that far, citing guarantees on energy, the gas pipeline from Ukraine, etc.” As it is known, such positions are held by Hungary and Slovakia.
Speaking about the second part of the conclusions, which will concern European defense, the diplomat said that the idea is to “accelerate the current debate.” “The issue of financing is at the heart of it. The President of the Commission will publish a letter on these financing options “early next week.” “The elements at stake on the topic of European defense are to develop concrete actions now, also in the short term, and to avoid postponing the discussion to June,” he detailed.
