Meloni Writes to EU Council President: Europe Must Speak With One Voice on Ukraine Talks or Risk Irrelevance
Rome — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote to European Council President António Costa on November 5, warning that Europe risks becoming irrelevant in negotiations to end Russia's war against Ukraine unless it ends competing diplomatic initiatives and agrees on a single representative empowered to speak on its behalf.
In the letter, Meloni listed a proliferation of overlapping formats — a meeting in Miami on October 10, another in Oslo on October 20, a call by the Finnish and Norwegian leaders with Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 27, and talks in Brussels on November 4 — and said proceeding in a disorderly manner would help neither Europe's partners nor those who must be persuaded to stop the aggression, while making Europe look lacking in credibility. "What I continue to call for is that a decision be made once and for all as to who sits at the negotiating table representing the European Union, and with what mandate," she wrote.
She said she was not seeking a seat at the table for herself or for Italy, but that Rome would not accept commitments negotiated without an EU mandate. She asked Costa to put the issue on the agenda of the informal European Council in Dublin next week, with a formal decision to be taken at the December European Council after coordination with Britain, Norway and other partners.
The letter came as U.S.-mediated trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States are due in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11, the first since February, with no formal EU participation arranged. Reuters noted that while EU countries insist on a seat at the table, they have yet to agree on who should lead the negotiations for them.
Costa responded that Europe needed to act with coherence, unity and determination, agreeing to include the issue in the Dublin discussions while stressing that EU interests must be represented by its institutions under the bloc's treaties, according to ANSA.
(Source: Reuters)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：意大利总理梅洛尼官方照片（2024年）。她11月5日致信欧洲理事会主席，要求欧盟在乌克兰和谈中统一发声。CC BY 3.0 it，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Official portrait of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (2024). CC BY 3.0 it, via Wikimedia Commons.
