The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) will attend a meeting of the European Council to “share views” on the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, António Guterres himself said this Thursday.
Guterres arrived, accompanied by Council President Charles Michel, at 10:50 local time (9:50 am in Lisbon) and felt that attending this Thursday’s meeting in Brussels, Belgium, “demonstrates excellent cooperation between the European Union and [EU] and the United Nations.”
“The Russian invasion is causing great suffering and has a huge impact on the whole world. Let’s take the opportunity to share our views,” António Guterres said.
The UN Secretary-General has warned of a “perfect storm” in “many countries”, as evidenced by deteriorating key indicators of quality of life: “More hunger, more poverty, less education, less health care.”
“We are close to a tipping point,” he dramatized.
The President of the European Council, for his part, congratulated Guterres on his “personal leadership, especially in the Black Sea Grain Initiative”, which has already enabled the export of more than 23 million Ukrainian grains, helping to contain the rise in commodity prices. , food.
Michel stressed that the UN and the EU have “a lot in common”.
“We believe in multilateralism, in a spirit of cooperation, in the UN Charter and in international law,” he stressed in statements before entering the European summit.
At the Council meeting, EU and Guterres leaders will have “an opportunity to discuss some of the challenges of our time, such as the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine”, as well as climate change and development assistance.
António Guterres is expected to take the moment to consider sanctions against Russia, and Belarus in particular, due to the global implications that blocking fertilizer exports could have.
According to POLITICO, which has consulted with diplomatic sources, Lithuania is making it difficult to “get an agreement” to allow fertilizer exports from Belarus. In 2021, a Ryanair flight bound for the Lithuanian capital Vilnius was sent to arrest Roman Protasevich, an opponent of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.
Lithuania and other countries like Polynia are pushing for tougher sanctions on Minsk and Moscow as the most effective way to end the conflict in Ukraine.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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