03.12.2015

MEPs Brok, Fotyga, Plenković: Russia must show commitment to the Minsk agreements

Following the meeting today on the implementation of the Minsk agreements, Elmar Brok, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Anna Fotyga, Chair of the Subcommittee on Security of Defense, and Andrej Plenković, Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee, encouraged Ukraine to keep up its reform path and commitment to the Minsk process and called on Russia to “urgently demonstrate” commitment to “achieve all points covered by the agreement.”

Representatives of the German, French and Ukrainian Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and of the EEAS, took part in the meeting.

Elmar Brok (EPP, DE), Anna Fotyga (ECR, PL), and Andrej Plenković (EPP, HR) issued the following statement after the meeting:

“Ukraine remains one of the main priorities of the European Parliament’s foreign agenda. We are fully supportive of the Minsk agreements as the internationally acknowledged basis for a political solution to the conflict in the Donbas and a peaceful reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories and further remind of the objective of ending the illegal annexation of Crimea.

We appreciate the diplomatic efforts of Germany and France and also welcome the operational and financial support provided by the European Union but also by the IMF and others. We underline the positive developments of reforms undertaken by the Ukrainian authorities and their commitment to the Minsk process and encourage them to continue on this path. We encourage them to conclude the constitutional reforms including decentralisation as fast as possible.

Today, we must unfortunately express our deep concerns regarding the current state of play. Only some weeks ahead of the foreseen deadline for full implementation, not enough has been achieved. Cease-fire violations increased since mid-October. Monitors from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission experience restrictions on their freedom of movement, and the restoration of Ukrainian control over the full length of border with Russia, which is of outmost importance, is far from being reality. No agreement was yet reached on the modalities of local elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk. Progress on the withdrawal of weapons is poor. And the list of non-compliance is much longer.

It became clear during our discussions today that the Russian authorities bear a particular responsibility in this situation, leading to the deterioration of the security situation in the region. We call on them to urgently demonstrate their commitment to achieve all points covered by the agreement. The implementation of Minsk is the condition for lifting the sanctions.

This is necessary with a view not only to ensuring the security of Ukraine and of the European continent, but also to putting an end to the dire conditions in which people in these territories and all Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been living for almost two years.“

Note to the editors:
The Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Subcommittee on Security of Defense and the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee held a meeting on the state of implementation of the Minsk agreements on Thursday 3 December with Amb. Johannes Regenbrecht, Special Envoy for Ukraine and Head of the Ukraine Task Force, German Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Raphaël Martin de Lagarde, Deputy Director for Russia and Eastern Europe, French Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Oleksii Makeiev, Political Director, Ukrainian Ministry for Foreign Affairs; and Gunnar Wiegand, Director for Eastern Partnership and Russia, EEAS. The videorecording of the meeting is available here.