Today at the Council, we broached many issues, beginning with the ratification of the agreement for Brexit, which is a fair compromise that takes into account the interests of the European Union, all the 27 states, as well as those of the UK. We stated our support and solidarity to Spain, which has a special issue with Gibraltar.
All the other subjects we discussed at the Council are centred on a significant requirement: For European foreign policy and defence to be solid, and as independent as possible. This is what we supported during the course of this meeting, both as regards Ukraine, regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina - where we also supported the significance of the European perspective of the Western Balkans as a hope for their future - and naturally for Yemen which is facing a severe humanitarian crisis.
I had the opportunity to meet with the Ministers of Foreign of Affairs of France, Mr. Le Drian, and of Cyprus, Mr. Christodoulides, in the context of the same issues, for the common European defence, and especially of course with Nikos Christodoulides on the national issues of mutual interest.
We are coordinating our action with Cyprus to also deal with current issues, such as Cyprus’ inalienable sovereign right to proceed with exploiting its wealth-producing resources, and for our overall coordination regarding all the other national issues. And we will continue to work closely, guided by the respect for International Law, fending off any “clamor” that challenges rights that are based on the Law of the Sea, on international agreements that our countries have concluded.
Thank you very much.
November 19, 2018