European foreign ministers gathered in Cyprus on Thursday rejected any suggestion that Russia could choose who speaks for Europe in potential Ukraine peace talks, pledging to present a united front.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Moscow was setting a trap by raising the question of who should represent Europe at the negotiating table. “Let’s not walk into that trap. Negotiation is always a team effort,” she told reporters. “That’s why the substance is much more important than who.”
The meeting follows a proposal by President Vladimir Putin earlier this month that former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder — whom Putin has described as a personal friend — could represent Europe in any future talks. European governments rejected that suggestion.
“Europe will decide the name of the negotiator, not Mr Putin,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on arriving for the gathering. “It is not a Putin decision, it is our decision.”
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Putin was open to negotiations with Europe, according to the RIA news agency.
Despite speculation about whether the EU would designate an envoy, several ministers said the discussion was premature. Diplomats told Reuters ahead of the meeting that no decisions were expected and that there was no consensus on European preconditions or demands for Moscow.
“This is not the time when we are discussing who is going to have the negotiations,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said. “But we have to discuss what we are doing to put additional pressure on Russia and also give more systems to Ukraine.”
Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said unity mattered more than the question of an envoy. “What’s important more than talking about the special envoy is that it has to be one voice,” he said.
Some ministers signalled openness to designating an envoy in future. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said Europe needed to be at the table and expressed confidence that member states could agree both on a mandate and on candidates for the role. Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the bloc needed both to define the content of any potential negotiation and to identify someone to carry the European message.
Asked whether she wanted the role herself, Kallas said her job was to represent the EU. “I’m the High Representative of the European Union, and you can read my job description in the treaties — and of course, that is also representing Europe. But for that, we need to be united.”