Informal meeting of EU foreign ministers (Gymnich) in Bucharest

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Marija Pejčinović Burić attended an informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers (Gymnich), held 31 January and 1 February 2019 in Bucharest as part of Romania’s Council of the EU presidency

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Marija Pejčinović Burić attended an informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers (Gymnich), held 31 January and 1 February 2019 in Bucharest as part of Romania’s Council of the EU presidency.

The two-day meeting discussed the Eastern Partnership, Venezuela and China.

In light of the Eastern Partnership’s 10^th anniversary, the ministers discussed the events that would mark the progress in the implementation of the EU’s Eastern Partnership policy in 2019 as well as goals and priorities that would determine activities in relations between the EU and its six eastern European partners (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) in the coming period.

The situation in Venezuela was described as extremely worrying and serious on the political, economic, social and humanitarian front. The EU and its member states support the peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis in line with the Venezuelan Constitution. The ministers reiterated that last year’s presidential elections were democratically illegitimate. The EU fully supports the National Assembly as the only democratically legitimate institution and its president in his institutional role. The EU will get involved through the International Contact Group for Venezuela, which is to hold a ministerial meeting next week, to help create preconditions for a peaceful resolution of the crisis and a legitimate political process in line with the constitution, which should allow Venezuelan citizens to decide their future trough a free and fair election process. The ministers agreed, in light of the situation on the ground, to decide on further sanctions against those responsible for the violence against protesters. The EU will carry on with the humanitarian efforts in Venezuela, including the neighbouring countries, onto which the crisis has spilled over and who are accommodating a large number of refugees.

The meeting also discussed the EU-China relations, underlining that they would be based on a uniform and consistent approach and engagement on part of the EU, notably in the areas of economy, sustainable development, connectivity, trade and investment, rule of law and human rights. The EU will cooperate with China in the promotion of multilateralism and cooperation in response to global challenges. Pejčinović Burić reported on the plans regarding a meeting of the China+16 initiative, scheduled for April in Dubrovnik. Relations with China were also the topic of a discussion with the foreign ministers of candidate countries (Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey), which traditionally participate in on part of Gymnich.

And informal meeting was also held with the ministers of the Western Balkans countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) together with Turkey on the future of the region. Pejčinović Burić underlined the importance of the EU’s continued engagement on these countries’ European path by assisting in reforms, democratization and respect for values. She emphasized that enlargement would be one of the priorities of Croatia’s Council of the EU chairmanship in the first half of 2020.

 

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