KUWAIT, European Union Foreign Ministers discussed developments in the Middle East, focusing on the situation on the ground, including the humanitarian situation in Gaza during their formal meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.
In this context, they discussed support for the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA, as well as other UN agencies, said an EU statement released after the meeting this evening.
They also touched on the rising tensions at Israel’s northern border and the serious risk of spill over in the region.
EU High Representative Josep Borrell expressed support for active mediation efforts, led by the US and France to mitigate confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah, and for Lebanon and Cyprus which had been threatened by Hezbollah.
Lastly, the Council discussed EU support for finding a political solution to the conflict, and agreed to pursue and intensify cooperation with international partners to relaunch a political process towards a two state solution.
In a press conference after the meeting Bor
rell stressed that three weeks after US President Joe Biden tabled his roadmap to a ceasefire and had received strong international support, in particular EU support, there were still no signs of a possible ceasefire.
He also highlighted the insurmountable difficulties for humanitarian support in the absence of it.
Further, the ministers were informed about political developments in Tunisia and discussed the need to first collectively assess the situation, and then consider how best to manage the EU partnership with the country and uphold EU support for the Tunisian people.
The EU Foreign Affairs Council adopted a 14th package of economic and individual sanctions targeting high-value sectors of the Russian economy and making it more difficult to circumvent EU sanctions.
The Council also discussed Ukraine and decided to send soon 1.4 billion euro (USD 1.5 billion) worth of arms and industrial help to the war-torn country.
The money will come from the 210 billion euro (USD 225 billion) assets of Russia’s C
entral Bank that the EU has immobilized as part of its multi-pronged sanctions.
EU Member states agreed in March to seize these Russian revenues and send them directly to Ukraine, 90 percent for military equipment and 10 percent for reconstruction projects.
Source: Kuwait News Agency