The Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden, said this Thursday, upon his arrival at a meeting of European leaders in Dublin, that the “natural” position to embody the 27 in the peace talks on Ukraine corresponds to the President of the European Council, António Costa.
“What is important is that we speak with a common message. The message is more important than the person, and that message is clear: We are on Ukraine’s side and with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations on its sovereignty, territorial integrity and integrity,” Frieden stressed to the media as he entered the summit of the European Political Community.
Asked directly who should take on that representation, the Luxembourg leader pointed, without hesitation, to Costa, emphasizing that the President of the European Council is the one who “naturally” represents the whole of the European Union “when it comes to at the leaders level”.
“For that reason, I support Costa’s presence for these talks,” he added, indicating next that another key issue that the Heads of State and Government must address is the response to Ukraine’s financial needs and “finding the necessary funds”.
In this sense, Frieden indicated that he does not want to “speculate” about the specific instrument with which the Union should meet those financial demands — aside from the 90 million euro loan already committed — but he has shown himself confident that “the necessary means will be found to support Ukraine, not only for the winter that is coming, but also for the medium and long term”.
The leaders of the European Union, already in the format of the 27, will extend on Friday in Dublin an informal summit in which they will discuss what role the EU bloc should play in the negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow driven by the United States, after the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, had expressed her displeasure at the lack of internal unity.