Below is the transcript of the intervention made by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos at today’s EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, during which the new Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, briefed his European counterparts on the latest developments and the security situation in Ukraine:
E. VENIZELOS: The Foreign Affairs Council’s main political goal is, I believe, to support President Poroshenko’s political initiative to present a comprehensive 15-point plan. From this standpoint, I think that the draft Conclusions drawn up by the Committee of Permanent Representatives is fully adequate.
But I would like to make the observation that this draft contains four separate pillars:
The first pillar concerns foreign policy and the restoration of good Ukrainian-Russian bilateral and, more specifically, cross-border relations.
The second pillar is that of internal security, obviously for all of the citizens, all of the linguistic and ethnic groups, and all of the regions of Ukraine.
The third pillar concerns domestic constitutional developments in Ukraine, and particularly decentralization with regard to the eastern regions and the protection of all minorities.
The fourth pillar is an incentive of a development and economic nature, mainly as regards the creation of new jobs in the eastern regions.
Many of these points can be promoted, in any case, as internal decisions of Ukraine’s state organs, while the condemnation of terrorism and organized crime is something that is self-evident for European policy and for every modern state.
The paradox is that the 15 points do not include the resolution of pending energy issues. I assume that this is a tacit 16th point.
As President Poroshenko stated that this is plan A, and that in case of failure there is a plan B, we have to say that the European position focusses on the need to support plan A and avoid any lapse into a plan B that helps no one.
June 23, 2014