Extraordinary Council of EU Foreign Ministers meeting on 4 March: conclusions

Today, Friday 4 March, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmès participated with her European counterparts in an Extraordinary Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting to monitor the situation in Ukraine. This meeting was expanded to include the American, British and Canadian partners, represented by Mr Antony Blinken, Ms Liz Truss and Ms Melanie Joly. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was also present. During the exchange of views, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Dmytro Kuleba, spoke via videoconference.

The meeting provided an opportunity for a majority of participants to continue the exchange of views that had been organised at a NATO level this morning. Belgium had the opportunity to reiterate its main messages regarding unity and the important coordination of partners in this crisis, the great solidarity with Ukraine and the need to keep maximum pressure on Russia. On this last point, Belgium welcomes the strong sanctions against Russia and its ally Belarus that had already been taken very quickly by the European partners. This country is open to new measures to further tighten sanctions.

A point of interest is the announcement of an agreement between Russia and Ukraine on organising humanitarian corridors. The details of the implementation are not known at this stage. Sophie Wilmès: "The humanitarian corridors must allow for the delivery of food to Ukrainians, but must also help create a safe passage for compatriots who wish to leave Ukraine. The corridors need to be implemented as soon as possible. Once that is the case, we will need to coordinate among European partners as best we can so that it runs efficiently."

The Deputy Prime Minister also emphasised that besides the conflict, we are witnessing a confrontation of values and societal models. In this regard, permanent contact needs to be maintained among the 141 countries that supported the UN resolution (ES/11/1) on Wednesday. She also called for a specific plan, developed by the European Commission, to counter the Russian propaganda strategy – not only here but especially among the Russian people.