Good evening.  

The first Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) of the year could not have started with another issue than with the war in Ukraine.  

Unfortunately, 2023 has not seen any interruption of the fighting. The military situation is unchanged, but do not confuse the stability in the frontline with operational calm. There is no operational calm. On the contrary, there are very violent combats on the Donbass, around the city of Bakhmut, and a little bit more to the north, in the oblast of Luhansk. The fight is very fierce and there are a lot of casualties in this fight.  

So, we had to start the first [Foreign Affairs Council of the] year, talking about Ukraine. 

Talking about Ukraine because Russia continues its systematic, barbaric attacks on Ukranian cities, killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructures.  

Everybody has seen the horrible images from Dnipro, in one of the deadliest single attacks against civilians since the start of the war with more that 40 people - including six children – killed.  

Ukraine is resisting with courage and determination. Let me tell you that we will continue our support to Ukraine. Ukraine has to win this war and we will support [it] in the best possible way. 

It is almost a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. We confirmed to the Ukrainian Foreign, Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who joined us via VTC: our collective endeavour will continue, as long as it takes. 

We are preparing the EU-Ukraine Summit on 3 February. It will be the first Summit since the start of the war and with Ukraine as a candidate country. 

The deliverables.  

Today, we reached a political agreement for the 7th tranche of military support [under the European Peace Facility], with an additional €500 million and an additional assistance measure worth €45 million for the Ukrainian [armed] forces being trained by our military training mission, by the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine) that I visited before Christmas, in Poland.   

This brings the total military support under the European Peace Facility to € 3.6 billion.  

This is the military assistance support from the European Union budget, from the intergovernmental fund. But keep in mind the figure of €49 billion: €49 billion is the total amount of support to Ukraine. Military, financial, economic and humanitarian [support]: almost €50 billion. This means that the European Union is ranking first - Member States and European institutions, all together - we are ranking first in our support to Ukraine. 

Second, our support for Ukraine’s initiative for a just peace.  We will continue supporting the substance of this proposal, to ensure the broadest possible global support. For that, we will insist on the two key elements: Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, and Ukraine’s inherent right of self-defence. Third, the need for accountability.  

It is Russia that is on the side of war, on the side of the violation of international law. Ukraine stands for peace and is taking initiatives in that regard. We have not seen any genuine willingness from Russia regarding a fair and sustainable peace.  

We have been working also on the options for an accountability mechanism. Work is ongoing in the United Nations to this end, for this purpose, including in the context of the next United Nations General Assembly, which we fully support. Central to this work is to preserve the critical role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in international criminal justice.  

There is large support for establishing an International Prosecutor Office in The Hague as a first step for accountability. 

Then, the sanctions. There is a lot of debate about sanctions: the effectiveness of the sanctions, the price caps on oil and gas. Let me just show this image. 

As you can see, the blue and red lines are the price of the barrel of Russian oil and the Brent – North Sea and Urals. You can see, both were completely identical. They were completely identical until the start of the war and the imposing of the price cap. Today, the Russian oil is being sold at $40 a barrel [while] Brent is at $80. This means that the Russian oil is being sold at a discount of 50%, and it is being bought by mainly India and China.

For the first time, the oil market for Russian oil is driven by demand. 40% -- Russia needs 70% in order to balance its budget. So, it is losing $40 per barrel. It is a big hit on Russia’s financial stability. 

Q. Deux questions sur l’Ukraine. Quel est votre message au gouvernement allemand et à la ministre [des affaires étrangères de l’Allemagne, Annalena] Baerbock? Est-ce qu’elle vous a rassuré par rapport à ce que l’Allemagne va faire sur la question des [chars] Leopard 2? La deuxième question est plus générale. Quelle est la crédibilité de l’Union européenne en tant qu’acteur géopolitique avec une autonomie stratégique si un pays membre peut bloquer d’autres pays membres qui veulent [aider] l’Ukraine avec des chars de combat? 

Ecoutez, je sais bien que la réunion de Ramstein a été dominée par les débats sur les chars Leopard [2] mais il faut dire clairement que le résultat de cette réunion a été, du point de vue quantitatif, très important et très positif. La détermination des Etats-Unis et de l’Europe à intensifier leur soutien militaire à l’Ukraine a été claire, et démontrée de façon éclatante.

Si vous regardez les chiffres, les Américains ont annoncé 2,5 milliards [de dollars], les Allemands, 1  milliards [d’euros]. Les Danois ont décidé de livrer à l’Ukraine l’intégralité des obusiers CAESAR - 16  commandés à la France. Les Suédois ont annoncé la livraison d’Archer, qui est un système d’artillerie parmi les plus performants du monde. La Finlande a annoncé un paquet de 400 millions [d’euros], soit une somme supérieure à l'ensemble de tous ses engagements antérieurs.

J’ai ici la liste de toutes les capacités militaires que les Etats membres de l’Union européenne se sont engagés à fournir [lors de] la réunion de Ramstein, qui [était] une réunion de coordination.

Pendant le Conseil [Affaires étrangères], on a discuté de tout ça et c’est évident - la ministre des affaires étrangères [de l’Allemagne] l’avait déjà dit avant – que l’Allemagne ne bloque pas [le fait] que d’autres pays qui veulent le faire, puissent exporter ses chars Leopard [2]. Donc, l’Allemagne ne bloque pas les exportations de chars Leopard [2].