On Sunday evening, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Jean Asselborn participated in a EU foreign policy meeting that lasted almost three hours.
For the first time in the history of the union, the 27 member states will jointly purchase and deliver weapons to a third-party country that has been under assault: Ukraine.
A budget of €450 million has been made available, while another €50 million is to be spent on first-aid equipment and medicines. “Things now have to move quickly”, said Minister Asselborn.
Follow all of the latest developments in Ukraine here.
Another topic of conversation was the potential peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, although Minister Asselborn expressed scepticism in this regard: “How exactly is that supposed to work when even Belarus cannot bear to maintain a ceasefire for one afternoon?”
Moods are changing quickly in the affected countries. On Sunday afternoon, President Putin put out a statement to declare that Russia’s nuclear deterrent has been put on “special alert” as a reaction to “aggressive behaviour” from NATO.
The 27 EU foreign ministers also discussed the potential of economic sanctions on Sunday evening. Minister Asselborn explained that the decision to exclude Russia from the international payment system SWIFT is a very important step. He further noted that the freezing of the financial reserves of the Russian central bank will have a great impact.
The EU Commission also wants to prohibit Russian propaganda channels RT and Sputnik on its territory. This will concern the Grand Duchy directly as RT is broadcasted by the Luxembourgish-French SES telecommunications network provider.
The presence of Europeans on administrative boards of Russian firms was not discussed by the foreign experts on Sunday evening. However, Minister Asselborn stressed that the decision of former LSAP colleagues Etienne Schneider and Jeannot Krecké to leave their respective positions, which they announced on Sunday evening, was the right one.
