Will he or will he not come to Brussels? Zelensky is already there | Abroad

Now that President Zelensky has landed in London at the end of the morning on Wednesday, it is certain: the president has started his second foreign trip since Russian troops invaded his country on February 24. In addition to Prime Minister Sunak, he will also meet King Charles in Great Britain, Buckingham Palace reports.

London announced the visit only hours before the Ukrainian leader set foot on British soil. It was the same in Washington last December. Security reasons.

Things went a little differently in Brussels this week. There, his possible visit to successively the European Parliament and the European Council has been ‘talk of the town’ for two days. So much so that the spokesman of the Council, the institution in which the 27 leaders of the member states meet, was forced to confirm that Zelensky had been warmly invited by Brussels, but that this certainly did not mean that his visit was necessarily scheduled for this Thursday. The President of the Council, Charles Michel, has been campaigning for his arrival in Brussels since Zelensky’s visit to Washington. He is reportedly very upset with the leak in his stomach.

The culprit seems to be the cabinet of parliament speaker Roberta Metsola, although that is not confirmed there. Nies about a visit from Zelensky is yet to be confirmed. Metsola is a member of the EPP, the Christian Democratic and largest group in parliament. And in that group, an e-mail was indeed circulated on Monday, so that the delegates could prepare for the arrival of the president.

Zelensky’s visit has been confirmed for Thursday and an extraordinary plenary session will be convened on that occasion. He is expected to intervene in the plenary at 10am, but this has not yet been confirmed. Only when the visit is formally official will an announcement be made to members with exact timing. That will probably happen today. FORMAT: solemn speech = he speaks alone and then leaves. COP should be brought forward to Wednesday.’

The COP is the Conference of Presidents, the group leaders’ club that has an important role in governing parliament. The EPP also immediately sent out a tweet: “We look forward to welcoming you to Brussels, Mr. President Volodymyr Zelensky,” which has since been deleted.

It’s been quiet ever since. But now the agenda for Thursday morning’s plenary session has been circulated. It is completely empty, unique. Well, between ten and eleven it is scheduled: ‘Resumption of work’. And: “Formal meeting.”

Incidentally, the visit has hardly any practical use: the European Union was in Kiev last week with no less than sixteen European Commissioners. They held a joint meeting with the Ukrainian government. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel added a summit with the president on Friday.

But such a visit naturally has great symbolic value: in the month that Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, Europe shows that it embraces Ukraine.

That leaves one question: there is another institution in Brussels that is of vital importance to Ukraine: NATO. Shouldn’t he go there too? They don’t want to say anything about it at the security organization. It sounds logical, agrees a NATO diplomat, but on the other hand: NATO does not want to turn the war in Ukraine into a showdown between Russia and NATO. And then there is another logistical problem: NATO CEO Jens Stoltenberg is in the middle of important talks with the American Congress – in Washington.