“It is of great value that Foreign Ministers for our progressive family can meet and discuss common views on important issues like Ukraine”, said Luxemburg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn. “We are now 14 Foreign Ministers from Social Democrat, Socialist and Democratic parties. It´s a big change from a few years ago when we were 3. This is a guarantee that we will have a more progressive foreign policy”, said Mr. Asselborn.
The main issue this time was the situation in Ukraine. The PES Foreign Ministers are gravely concerned about the development after the illegal annexation of Crimea, and the violence and illegal referendum in eastern Ukraine and Donetsk. There is a big need for a de-escalation of the situation, and a dialogue between different parts of Ukraine. Unfortunately the sanctions against Russian stakeholders has to continue and be enlarged since the situation has not been better. The rising extremism in Ukraine was also a point of discussion.
Please see below the list of the Ministers who participated to the meeting;
-
– Jean Asselborn, Coordinator of the PES Foreign Affairs Ministers Network – Luxemburg
-
– Kristian Vigenin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria
-
– Lubomír Zaorálek, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czech Republic
-
– Erkki Tuomioja, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland
-
– Harlem Desir, State Secretary for Europeans Affairs of France
-
– Frank Walter Steinmeier, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany
-
– Evangelos Venizelos, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece
-
– Federica Mogherini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy
-
– George Vella, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malta
-
– Frans Timmermans, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
-
– Titus Corlăţean, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Romania
-
– Miroslav Lajčák, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia
-
– Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy
-
– Libor Roucek, Vice-President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament
-
– Ann Linde, Head of the International Unit of the PES