Foreign Affairs Council: Press remarks by High Representative Josep Borrell upon arrival

22.05.2023 EEAS Press Team

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Good morning,

I want to start by remembering that yesterday was the International Day of Solidarity with the Political Prisoners in Belarus. We are talking about 1500 persons who are imprisoned in very dire situations, so it is important to remember them, to continue supporting them, to continue putting pressure on Lukashenko’s regime. The Council will discuss about it also, but the celebration was yesterday – [it is] important to remember that.

We will talk about the situation in Ukraine, certainly, and about the new [11th] package of sanctions and the new [8th] tranche of the European Peace Facility (EPF). You know that there are important discussions about that. 

[On the] sanctions, it is more about circumvention – to avoid our sanctions be ineffective because in practical terms, they are circumvented. We will see how we manage that. 

We will start working on the implementation of the decision of the G7, and I hope I will bring soon to the Ambassadors concrete proposals to implement the decision of the G7 on new kind of sanctions against Russia. As you know, it is a competence of the Council to take these decisions and I will start working on that. 

We will discuss about the Horn of Africa and we will invite our friends from the Western Balkans to share the lunch with us.

We will approve a new package of sanctions against Iran for human rights abuses. Remember that three people have been executed and we will adopt this new package of sanctions. 

Q&A 

Q. On the new tranche of the European Peace Facility, Hungary is blocking it. How do you think we can overcome it? What do we have to give [to] Hungary?

It is not only an issue of Hungary. This new package of sanctions has some specific considerations that many countries will want to discuss. The Ambassadors at the same time will do [so] at the Coreper, but the political discussion will certainly be about the new tranche of the European Peace Facility and the new package of sanctions on circumvention and the way it affects third countries. The only way of getting out of this kind of things is [by] discussing [it]. 

Q. Do you think unanimity is a problem in these kinds of questions for the EU foreign affairs policy?

Well, I have always been asking for qualified majority voting because otherwise it is clear that we are too slow in taking decisions, but what can I do?

Q. On the G7 Declaration, do you think it is realistic, the decoupling from economic dependence from China?

Nobody is talking about decoupling. Nobody wants to decouple. It is about having €2.7 billion every day of [trade] exchanges, and decoupling is something that is not on the agenda. We talked about cancelling excessive dependencies that could become risky, but nobody is willing to decouple the European and Chinese economies. 

Q. And in concrete terms, how could the G7 industries become more independent from China?

We are working on a Communication on Economic Security, that will be presented together by the [European] Commission and the High Representative in the next days, before the European Council. There will be the answer. 

Q. You mentioned recently that if China does not use its influence on Russia to urge them to [inaudible]. Can you elaborate on that? 

We presented in the Gymnich [Informal meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers] a paper on how to deal with China. Please, have a look at that. It is a 6-pages paper where these kinds of things are being studied. But it is clear that we expect from China to use its influence - and they have a lot of influence – in order to stop the war in Ukraine. We expect that from China and, if China was going to provide Russia with arms - which for the time being is not the case - it would certainly damage our relations, for sure.  

Q. High Representative, a clarification on Iran. The new sanctions package would mean adding additional entities and individuals?

Exactly, a new package of sanctions. 

Q. Can you update us on the current progress in the F16 fighter jets coalition? When can Ukraine expect deliveries from the Netherlands, for example?

That is a good initiative. That is a good thing coming out of the G7, that finally they decided to prepare the ground in order to provide Ukraine with the fighter jets they need. So, I think that the training of the pilots has already started, this is the first thing to do, and I hope that soon we could provide Ukraine with these kinds of arms. 

Q. Is it acceptable that there were no new Belarus sanctions for half a year?

Today there [are] no new Belarus sanctions. 

Q. How should you start the discussions?

I do not know. It is not on the agenda today. I cannot tell you.  

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-241551 

Peter Stano
Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
+32 (0)460 75 45 53
Nabila Massrali
Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
+32 (0) 2 29 88093
+32 (0) 460 79 52 44