Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ioannis Kasoulides participated in the work of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, which took place today in Brussels.
The Council's work focused on the situation in the Western Balkans, where Foreign Ministers exchanged views on developments in the region and examined ways to strengthen the EU's political engagement in individual areas. In this context, they also attended a working lunch attended by the Foreign Ministers of Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania.
In addition, they reviewed the latest developments in Ukraine in the light of the ongoing Russian invasion, in the presence of the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Canada, while an EU-Canada ministerial meeting was held before the start of the Council's work, in the presence of Foreign Minister Melanie Joly.
In the context of the discussion on the Western Balkans, the Foreign Minister stressed that the political instability and the negative impact of the Ukrainian crisis, combined with the growing influence of third countries in the Western Balkans region, are of particular concern to us. The EU, he said, must speed up the enlargement process and support our partners in the Western Balkans in order to preserve its own credibility and avoid making the region more vulnerable to the influence of third countries such as Russia, China and Turkey.
In his intervention at the EU-Canada ministerial meeting, the Foreign Minister stressed that the reshaping of the security architecture in Europe is vital and therefore Cyprus supports the consolidation of a stronger EU-NATO cooperation that is mutually beneficial and based on the principles of reciprocity and autonomy of decision-making. Referring to cooperation with Canada, the Foreign Minister made special reference to Canada's long-standing contribution to civilian and military missions in the framework of the European Union's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as well as Canada's participation in the military mobility programme in the framework of the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO).
Under the item "Current Affairs", Greece provided an update on the Turkish violations of Greek airspace. Afterwards, taking the floor, Mr. Kasoulides expressed full support for Greece's positions.
In the margins of the Foreign Affairs Council, Mr. Kasoulides had a bilateral meeting with the Serbian Foreign Minister, Mr. Nikola Selakovic, during which he reviewed a number of regional issues as well as progress in EU-Serbia relations.
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