EU – Laurence Boone to attend Foreign Affairs Council meeting (Brussels, Nov. 14, 2022)

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Laurence Boone, Minister of State for Europe, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, will attend the November 14th Council of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels. She will be representing Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna, who is currently at the G20 with President Macron.
The ministers will discuss the situation in Ukraine following a virtual briefing by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Laurence Boone will emphasize the importance of maintaining our long-term support for Ukraine, in all its various forms. She will stress the importance of the conference on civilian resilience in that country, which is being organized by France and Ukraine and will be held in Paris on December 13. She will also reiterate the need to maintain our support for partners that are feeling the consequences of the Russian aggression, particularly through the Paris meeting of the Moldova Support Platform on November 21, the reauthorization of the UN’s Black Sea Grain Initiative, and the continued flow of grain through the EU’s Solidarity Lanes.

With regard to the Western Balkans, the Minister of State, who will travel to the area this week, will reaffirm France’s efforts to reduce current tensions between Serbia and Kosovo and our role in the Security Council’s reauthorization of EUFOR ALTHEA’s mandate in Bosnia-Herzegovina. She will also underscore the European Political Community’s importance to that region ahead of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Tirana on December 6.

The EU member states will also discuss Africa, with a particular focus on the Great Lakes region. Ms. Boone will call for strengthening the EU’s role in the region and will remind attendees of President Macron’s efforts to facilitate dialogue between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In addition, the Minister will commend the Council’s adoption of new sanctions in response to the current crackdown in Iran and will reiterate our very strong condemnation of Iran’s support for the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
She will also reiterate the urgent need for Lebanese lawmakers to swiftly elect a new president.