A summit between the European Union, Latin America, and the Caribbean leaders hit a snag Tuesday over a joint assertion on the struggle in Ukraine.
As a number of Latin American nations resisted EU stress for a transparent condemnation of Russia, the wrangling threatened to overshadow the summit in Brussels because the 27-country block tries to revitalize relations with the continent.
The EU had aimed to incorporate condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a part of a broader declaration setting out the leaders’ conclusions of the summit. But because the talks entered their second day, no settlement had been reached.
Countries with shut political and financial ties to Russia, resembling Cuba and Nicaragua, have been resisting makes an attempt to incorporate language condemning Russia, in response to officers aware of the negotiations.
A draft textual content seen by Reuters confirmed a paragraph that condemned “the ongoing war against Ukraine” and referred to U.N. resolutions that “deplore in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation” had been scored out.
The doc merely referred to “specific national positions” of the nations represented on the summit, which introduced collectively some 50 leaders from the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
Arriving on the summit Tuesday, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar mentioned the communique needed to be “very clear on Ukraine, this is a war of aggression.”
“There were talks late last night on the language, almost every country was able to sign up to a text that was clearly supportive of Ukraine, its right for independence, for freedom. One or two held out. Let’s see again this morning,” he mentioned.
“It’s sometimes better to have no conclusions at all than to have language that doesn’t mean anything but we’re not at that point yet,” he added.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel mentioned the communique couldn’t be used to “rewrite history.”
“The fact is that Russia aggressed Ukraine … we have to face the reality,” he informed reporters.
He instructed the assertion might find yourself saying that some particular nations didn’t agree with the language on Ukraine.
“We still can have a remark that says nearly all the countries accept (the language) … It’s a shame if we cannot agree, but I’m not here to rewrite history,” he mentioned.
Chile’s Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren mentioned his authorities regretted the dispute.
“We’re very sorry for the situation really and we’re very surprised that there are members of our group which oppose any resolution concerning the war in Ukraine,” he mentioned.
“We think it’s a war of aggression; that’s the position of Chile.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
