EU – Participation of Catherine Colonna in the Foreign Affairs Council (Brussels, 12 December 2022)

Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna will take part in today’s meeting of EU foreign ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.

That meeting will be preceded by a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Eastern Partnership countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The minister will underscore the EU’s support for these countries against the backdrop of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. She will stress the importance of continuing to implement the “Recovery, Resilience and Reform” agenda agreed to in 2021 to help them cope with Russia’s destabilizing actions.

During this meeting, which Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will attend via video link, the minister will reaffirm France’s unwavering support for Ukraine on the eve of the Paris conference in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, which we are organizing jointly with Ukraine. She will also call for very swift progress on the adoption of a ninth package of sanctions against Russia and will offer our backing for the Commission’s proposal to provide €18 billion in budgetary support for Ukraine in 2023. In addition, she will express our support for a proposal to allow the European Peace Facility to continue supporting Ukraine militarily, as well as our other partners in the world.

The minister will highlight our concern over the troubling direction taken by the Iranian regime. She will support the decision to be taken during this Council meeting to strengthen European sanctions against those responsible for the crackdown in Iran and those who are delivering drones to Russia to be used in Ukraine.

The minister will also reiterate the importance of supporting Moldova in the aftermath of the third ministerial conference of the Moldova Support Platform, which took place in Paris on November 21. She will stress the need to step up our assistance to the Southern Neighborhood countries ahead of EU Council discussions scheduled for December 15 and the summit meeting envisaged by the future Spanish presidency of the EU Council. She will conclude by reaffirming the need to closely monitor developments in Tunisia relating to the preservation of democratic gains and the socioeconomic situation.

On the sidelines of this Council meeting, the minister will also take part in a European Commission event to launch two Team Europe initiatives on migration. They will enable European institutions and member states to work closely together to jointly finance regional projects related to priorities identified in partnership with our partners in Africa and the Maghreb.