ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Foreign ministers from 27 countries in the European Union met on Monday in Luxembourg to discuss current affairs and a range of issues including the security situation in the Middle East, the Russia-Ukraine war, sanctions, humanitarian and environmental concerns.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy rejoined the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council as the first British foreign secretary since Liz Truss in 2022, a bid to improve post-Brexit relations with the EU. He told reporters that Britain is “back at the table.”
Baiba Braze, the Latvian foreign minister, told reporters that Europe must do more in light of Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.
“Our priority today, of course, is threefold,” she said. “One, everything to do with support to Ukraine. Quite clearly, Russia's war economy has been able to reconstitute itself, largely.”
She encouraged the EU presidency to increase the sanctions on Russia.
“We look forward to exchanging with David O'Sullivan, who is EU sanctions envoy, with regard to cooperation with the third countries, avoiding various sanction measures that countries have been able to prosecute,” she said, encouraging the EU to utilize sanctions which are not easily evaded.
“So it's important both to decrease the income in [the] Russian budget which is the ‘shadow fleets’ the oil exports, the gas and so on [and] so forth but also the access to technology,” she added.
More than two years into the invasion, Russian missile and drone strikes have crippled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and compelled Kyiv to import power from the EU and ration its electricity. However, Braze also said many EU companies are still exporting goods to Russia.
The summit also touched on Israel’s ongoing conflict in Lebanon with Hezbollah and its security and humanitarian impacts.
Maria Malmer Stenergard, Sweden’s foreign minister, warned about the tensions in the Middle East.
“We are very worried about the developments in the Middle East. Last week marked one year since the horrible terrorist attacks on Israel and we call on all parties, including Iran and its proxies, to show maximum restraint. And the developments regarding UNIFIL forces is something that we condemn together with all other European Union countries,” she told reporters.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has intensified since October 7 of last year, when Palestinian Hamas militants launched a large-scale incursion into southern Israel, killing more than 1,170 people, according to Israeli figures. Israel responded with a massive ongoing offensive on Gaza, killing over 42,000 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel has also stepped up its strikes in Lebanon and parts of Syria over the past year, targeting Hezbollah and Iranian personnel.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on the sidelines of the same summit that a number of Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon are “completely unacceptable.”
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is a mission of about 9,500 troops created to ensure peace in southern Lebanon after the Israeli invasion of 1978. It has accused Israel of “deliberate” attacks on peacekeepers and of crossing into Lebanon.
The foreign minister also touched on Iran and its proxies in the Middle East.
Earlier this month, Iran launched around 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attack was in response to the killing of Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan.
The European Council on Monday sanctioned seven individuals and seven entities in relation to Iran’s latest attack on Israel.
“The Council adopted today restrictive measures against seven individuals and seven entities following Iran’s missile and drone transfers to Russia. This decision follows the indication by the European Council in March 2024 that, were Iran to transfer ballistic missiles and related technology to Russia for use against Ukraine, the EU would be prepared to respond swiftly, including with new and significant restrictive measures,” read a statement from the council.
Alexander Schallenberg, Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of Austria, said that “the Iranian regime takes the wrong side and goes in the wrong direction but I believe that we can always leave some dialogue channels open.”
The United States Department of Treasury announced in February that in coordination with the United Kingdom, it had designated sanctions on a high-ranking commander of IRGC.
The US Treasury has intensified its crackdown on the properties of the IRGC-backed individuals and institutions in the Middle East, especially following attacks by the Iran-backed militia groups against US interests in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
Anna Luhrmann, Germany’s foreign minister for Europe, told reporters that her government “has been working on designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization for a long time and it is time to open the way for this in the European Union.”
Wopke Hoekstra, the EU’s commissioner for climate, emphasized that while efforts are underway to combat climate change, they are not enough. He hoped for more financial commitment for the problem at the UN Climate Change Conference next month in Azerbaijan
“What I've stressed also in the couple of days at the pre-COP is that the climate financing will need more effort from everyone involved,” he said
Hoekstra encouraged financing across all sectors to combat climate change.
“That means private sector financing,” he said, “it means public sector financing, and what we do need is not only a commitment from the Europeans, but also making sure that others with the ability to pay rise to the occasion and take their responsibility.
“That is what is at the table.”
