BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) – According to Council President Antónia Costa, the USA has promised the EU not to discuss EU or NATO issues in negotiations with Russia for peace in Ukraine. “The United States and the Ukrainians have drawn up a new working paper,” Costa told Handelsblatt. “In this new plan, all points that concern the European Union have been deleted. Everything that concerns NATO has also been deleted.”
A first, 28-point plan, which the media published last week, included many concessions from Ukraine and also stipulated the policies of the EU and NATO. President Donald Trump’s US leadership called this their plan. However, based on the history, it is clear that many Russian positions were incorporated. The plan was revised in talks between the USA and Ukraine, and the European states also contributed to changes in several rounds.
Only NATO can decide on the European security order, said Costa – like NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte before him. “There is no reason to have this discussion outside of NATO.”
Costa: EU decides on Russian state assets
There are also specific questions for the European Union. “Only the EU can negotiate sanctions, EU accession, and frozen assets, because these are all EU decisions,” Costa said.
Trump’s first plan envisaged that Russian state assets blocked in the EU would be used to rebuild Ukraine under US supervision. This would have deprived the European states of their greatest leverage over Moscow./fko/DP/he