The foreign ministers her The European Union meet later today at Ukraine to discuss strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses and extending sanctions against it Iran.
The war in Sudan is also expected to be discussed, but the focus will be on conflicts on the EU’s eastern and southern doorstep, Ukraine and the Middle East.
As Russia has escalated airstrikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure and other targets, European governments are under pressure to supply Kiev with air defense systems, notably the US-made Patriot. Kiev secured a boost over the weekend as the House of Representatives approved a US$60 billion-plus funding package.
However, EU foreign policy chief Giuseppe Borrell and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg are urging European countries to step up their own efforts to supply Ukraine with weapons, particularly air defense systems.
After a video conference of NATO defense ministers with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, the NATO secretary general said he expected announcements soon. “NATO has mapped the existing capabilities across the alliance and there are systems that can be deployed to Ukraine,” the Norwegian insisted.
“In addition to the Patriot, there are other weapons that the allies can procure, including the (French system) SAMP/T,” he added.
As of this stage, Germany is the only EU country that has pledged to send additional Patriot systems to Ukraine following calls from Kiev.
The foreign ministers’ meeting will also be attended by European defense ministers, as well as their Ukrainian counterparts, before attention turns to the crisis in the Middle East, triggered by Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7.
Penalties
A deal will be sought on how far the European Union should go in sanctions against Tehran following last weekend’s Iranian attack on Israel.
The EU has already implemented various sanctions against Iran, citing its proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, human rights violations and the supply of UAVs to Russia.
The European Council decided last week to impose new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. More specifically, many EU countries are calling for the existing drone-related sanctions regime to be expanded to include missiles and arms transfers to forces close to Tehran in the Middle East.
Member states are specifically debating whether and to what extent new sanctions related to missile production should be imposed, according to diplomatic sources.
In addition, some countries are pushing for the EU to find a way to designate the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s elite military, as a terrorist organization.
But officials note that the legal basis for this step has not yet been found and they are not sure that it would be supported by all member states.
Source: RES-MPE
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