The Heads of State and Government of the European Union have not managed this Friday to reach an agreement to appoint a single figure to speak on behalf of all the partners in the peace talks between Ukraine and Russia promoted by the United States, so they will opt for a "European team" in which representatives of the Community institutions will sit alongside Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland.
"The leaders have agreed that our European team for negotiations on peace in Ukraine should be the EU institutions and the 'E5' of the Coalition of the Volunteers", the President of the European Council, António Costa, indicated at a press conference at the end of the informal summit of EU Heads of State and Government held in Dublin.
"We welcome all diplomatic efforts aimed at bringing Russia to the negotiating table. We are fully committed to supporting the ongoing process and hope that it will produce concrete results", he added.
On leaving the meeting, the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luis Montenegro, explained that there had been an understanding for Poland and Italy to be added to the format known as the 'E3' -- Germany, France and the United Kingdom -- as well as representatives sent by the European Commission and the European Council.
In any case, the Portuguese leader stressed that this team "does not yet have a specific mandate" and that its role will be to accompany the talks aimed at achieving peace in Ukraine, without getting into matters relating to the design of the future European security architecture.