The European Council meeting last week in Brussels focused on migration and EUs continued military and financial support to Ukraine. EU leaders stressed European unity and solidarity but that message was not shared by all member states.
A summary of the main results of the meeting can be found here. For the Council conclusions click here.
Progress had been made earlier in June on the migration issue with the support of 25 member states but the Council was unable to agree on the conclusions. Council President Charles Michel mentioned in his press remarks at the press conference on Friday (30 June) that this was because of Hungary and Poland. He described the agenda as “heavy in terms of content, in a difficult context”.
Instead, he published his own conclusions on the external dimension of migration. While noting the position of Hungary and Poland, he stated that all forms of solidarity should be considered equally valid and not serve as a potential pull factor for irregular (undocumented) migration.
Hungary and Poland opposed the use of qualified majority in the decision-making process and the new solidarity mechanism which combines mandatory solidarity with flexibility for member states as regards the choice of the individual contributions. Those countries that refuse to carry out relocations of migrants will have to provide financial contributions.
Commission President von der Leyen said in her press remarks that the general position reached by the Council on the Pact on Migration and Asylum is a watershed moment.
As regards Ukraine, the EU and its member states have so far provided over €77 billion in aid. They will continue to strongly support Ukraine’s economy, society, armed forces and future reconstruction. The EU will also provide flexible financial assistance to reinforce support for displaced persons in Ukraine and in the EU.
The EU repeated its pledge to provide sustainable military support to Ukraine for as long as it takes, particularly through its dedicated military assistance mission to Ukraine and the European Peace Facility (EPF), an off-budget fund to prevent conflicts and build peace. The financial ceiling of the Facility will increase to €3.5 billion.
Again, while almost all EU member states are showing full solidarity, Hungary is an outlier on this too because of its relations with Russia and has slowed down decisions on sanctions against Russia.
Ukraine has started its counter offensive, which is progressing slowly against strongly fortified Russian defense lines, and needs urgently more ammunition and weapons. The EU is ramping up its military industry and is committed to deliver 1 000 000 rounds of artillery ammunition for Ukraine before March 2024 which could be too late.
According to the Commission President, EU has already delivered over 220,000 ammunition rounds and over 2,000 missiles. “And we are now well on track to deliver the 1 million rounds which are foreseen within the next 12 months. Also, by the end of the year, we will have trained more than 30,000 Ukrainian servicemen and servicewomen.”
The European Council also discussed the topic of immobilised Russian assets belonging. Most of them belong to the Russian Central Bank and the rest to oligarchs supporting Kremlin. A working group started to look into the issue during the Swedish EU Presidency and will continue its work during the Spanish EU Presidency.
“We, the Commission, will come forward with a proposal,” von der Leyen said. “We will focus prudently on the windfall profits from the immobilised assets of the Russian Central Bank.”
The EU also stands ready to contribute to future security commitments to ensure long-term stability in Ukraine but it is still unclear if this implies support for Ukraine to join NATO or will take another form. To achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, the EU offers its full support to the country’s peace formula but the main political question on the support beyond 2023 was not on the agenda.
EU leaders condemned the continued military support for Russia provided by Iran and Belarus. The EU has adopted sanctions against individuals and entities in Iran but they have proven insufficient to stop Iran providing drones to Russia. Belarus must stop allowing Russian armed forces to use its territory, including for the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons.
As regards enlargement, EU leaders encouraged Ukraine and Moldova to continue reform efforts in their respective EU accession processes, and encouraged Georgia to meet the conditions to advance on its European path. Key for deciding on next steps on their accession process will be the Commission’s enlargement package in October with progress reports on each country.
Council President Michel addressed the issue of EU’s absorption capacity but was confident that the EU member states will reach a convergent position.
EU leaders also held a strategic discussion on China, which it continues to see simultaneously as a partner, a competitor and a systemic rival of the EU. The EU and China have a shared interest in pursuing constructive and stable relations, anchored in respect for the rules-based international order, balanced engagement and reciprocity.
The EU is committed to its ‘One China' policy and will continue to engage with China to tackle global challenges such as climate change, pandemic preparedness and Russia's war on Ukraine, and to ensure a level playing field for the economy and trade. One issue is EU’s trade deficit with China which has reached almost €400 billion and is not sustainable.
The Council expressed concern about growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the situation in Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as concern over the treatment of human rights defenders and persons belonging to minorities. To discuss these issues, the human rights dialogue between the EU and China has been relaunched.
The Council welcomed the work done on the partnership package with Tunisia and supported the resumption of political dialogue in the framework of the EU-Tunisia association agreement. To finalise the partnership agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding was supposed to be adopted by the Council but has been delayed.
Relations between Kosovo and Serbia continue to raise concerns despite the on-going EU-facilitated talks on normalisation and the Council condemned the recent violent incidents in the north of Kosovo. High Representative Josep Borrell met recently the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels but there were no joint meetings and he met them separately.
After the meeting with them, he was clearly disappointed. “Unfortunately, so far, all what we have been witnessing is just the opposite,” he said, referring to EU’s repeated calls to de-escalate tensions and to return to the process of normalisation of relations.
In the Eastern Mediterranean the Cyprus issue is still unsolved. UN-led talks have stalled and the Council repeated its commitment to a comprehensive solution on Cyprus.
The two EU leaders, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, congratulated Sweden for a successful EU Presidency which ended after the Council meeting. As of 1 July, Spain has taken over the rotating EU Presidency.
Michel described the Swedish EU Presidency as “extremely methodical, extremely active, extremely serious involvement.” Von der Leyen added that Sweden had been extremely active on the legislative front. A major achievement was that the negotiations on the Fit for 55 Package, “the heart of the European Green deal”, had been finalized.
The Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, who participated in the joint conference, admitted that he was not objective but believed that the Swedish EU Presidency had been successful by focusing on its three priorities – a safer, greener and safer Europe. The results of the Swedish EU Presidency are listed here.
In Sweden, not everyone agrees. In an op-ed on Friday in Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, constitutional law professor Hanna Eklund wrote that Sweden during its EU Presidency backpedaled on environment policy and contributed to locking migration policy into an unhuman situation of chaos.
The Swedish Prime Minister stressed that the decisions taken were necessary and had the overwhelming support of the Council as well as of the parties in the Swedish Parliament.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
