MOSCOW, Feb 17 : Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will take part in the European emergency summit on Ukraine in Paris on Monday, the prime minister’s office said.
Meloni was expected to chair a meeting of the Italian council of ministers late on Monday. Her updated schedule shows that she will travel to Paris in afternoon for an informal meeting “on Ukraine and security.”
French President Emmanuel Macron called an informal meeting of EU leaders to discuss Ukraine following Wednesday’s phone talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview to La Stampa newspaper that Europe has the right to sit down at the negotiating table on Ukraine and should use sanctions against Russia as leverage.
Tajani said he raised the issue of sanctions that the EU has adopted against Russia in recent months at a meeting with US Special Presidential Envoy for Russia and Ukraine Keith Kellogg at the Munich Security Conference.
“It is clear that for us they [sanctions] represent a fundamental lever that allows us to claim a certain role,” Tajani said.
Europe deserves trust and should be strong, united and convinced of its indispensability at the negotiating table, the minister said, adding that any deal on Ukraine should have Europe’s stamp of approval.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said last week that a peace pact on Ukraine would not work without the EU. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the EU should be involved in the Ukrainian peace negotiations, as it has given Kiev more support than the United States.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that Europeans should not complain about not being involved in the peace negotiations, but should instead come up with concrete initiatives.
Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov said on Sunday that Moscow viewed Macron’s decision to convene an emergency summit on Ukraine as an attempt to imitate Europe’s “strategic autonomy.”
(UNI)
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