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Good morning, 

Another meeting. This is a very intense week as you see: [Informal meeting of EU] Defence Ministers, EUCO, [EU-]ASEAN [Ministerial], [EU-]Indo-Pacific [Ministerial], and now [informal meeting of] Foreign Affairs [Ministers] – ‘Gymnich’. 

You know, ‘Gymnich’ means a different way of approaching. It is not a formal meeting - more relaxed, more frank, more open to discuss the issues, on which we have to engage more. 

Everybody knows that in Africa we need a strong engagement. Not just in the Sahel. We talk a lot about the Sahel, but there are other places in Africa. 

There is the war in Sudan raging. The situation in the Horn of Africa is becoming worse, although in Somalia it is going better. But in general terms, we have to rethink our approach to Africa to offer more cooperation and to understand that the stability of the African states is part of our security. 

So, Africa will be on the agenda - maybe the most important topic. 

But there are two others.  

One is the military support to Ukraine. The ministers have to continue discussing it. The European Council tasked us to continue looking for an agreement. There was an agreement on the civilian side, €50 billion - very good news. But we still have to decide how to implement our military support, both bilaterally and through the European Peace Facility. 

Member States have already provided Ukraine with €28 billion of support and for this year, it is more than €20 billion. So, we have to understand how this is going to go – through bilateral [support], through the European Peace Facility, which is the top-up the Member States will agree for the European Peace Facility. 

Then, UNRWA, Gaza also, we will discuss. How can we act in a coordinated manner because some Member States have reacted by increasing the support to UNRWA – not cutting [it], but increasing the support to UNRWA. Others said, “I will continue, but I will see what is happening,” and others decided to cut. 

So once again, these different approaches to a critical problem are not good for the European point of view. We have to have a common stance, and we will discuss it today. 

Q&A 

Q. A word on Gaza: What are the reasons that Israel intensifies its military action towards Rafah? 

Well, this is part of the problem, certainly. Israel continues its military activities in the South, pushing people against the Egyptian border. There are one million people in the South [of Gaza] that have been displaced progressively against the Egyptian border. They claimed that they were safe zones, but in fact what we see is that the bombing affecting the civilian population continues and is creating a very dire situation. The Ministers will have to discuss about it. 

Q. Are you ready to [inaudible] military action from Europe? 

We will see. We will see what Ministers decide. This is a discussion, this is not a formal [Foreign Affairs] Council, so no decision will be taken. It is a political discussion. 

Q. Will you be talking about the US strikes in the Middle East and the US Administration saying that it is just the start of their retaliatory actions in the Middle East? Are you concerned about the situation potentially [escalating]? 

We have been repeating, once and again, that the Middle East is a boiler that can explode. And certainly, there are attacks both on the Lebanon border; north and south; there are attacks in Syria; there are attacks in Iraq, attacks in the Red Sea. That is why we decided on this naval mission and that is why we call everybody to try to avoid an escalation. I cannot anticipate the results of the discussion of the ministers. Certainly, this is one of the topics. We are living a critical situation in the Middle East, in the whole region. And as long as the war in Gaza continues, it is very difficult to believe that the situation in the Red Sea will improve, because one thing is related to the other. It is a domino effect in the region. 

Q. What has Turkey to do to get visa liberalisation? 

I do not know, I am not going to talk about it. 

Q. ¿Le preocupa las medidas que ha llevado a cabo esta noche Estados Unidos? ¿Le preocupa una mayor escalada? 

Bueno, esto es parte del problema. En la región estamos asistiendo a una serie de ataques transfronterizos. En el Líbano en particular, en Iraq, en Siria, con bombardeos en territorios de países donde hay ‘proxies’ de otras fuerzas, que naturalmente no hacen sino aumentar la tensión y que pueden provocar una situación muy grave. En el Mar Rojo, los ataques continúan, por eso hemos decidido organizar una misión naval, de protección a los barcos – absolutamente de protección. Muchos países van a participar y espero que se pueda acordar el día 19 en el próximo Consejo de Asuntos Exteriores y que la misión empiece a ser operativa a finales de mes, porque la situación allí es crítica. Los barcos ya no están pasando por el Canal de Suez, dan la vuelta por África. Eso es más tiempo, más costes y más riesgos para todos. La Unión Europea tiene que estar presente allí, no puede dejar que otros resuelvan el problema, pero la misión será estrictamente de protección. No va a intervenir en misiones de ataque militar a tierra.  

Q. [Inaudible] for the European Peace Facility would you prepared to see? Would you like it or not? 

We will see. I cannot tell you the result of the meeting. 

Q. ¿Estados Unidos debería dejar de contribuir a la escalada en la región? 

Todo el mundo debería intentar evitar que la situación en la región se convierte en explosiva. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-252578