MFA: Minister Blanar to Leave for Brussels on Sunday

Bratislava, 22 June (TASR) - Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) will leave for Brussels later on Sunday, where he's slated to take part in a meeting of the EU's Foreign Affairs Council (FAC), the Foreign Affairs Ministry's communication department has informed TASR. The chiefs of diplomacies will discuss the war in Ukraine, the escalating situation in the Middle East, and relations between Europe and China. Individual negotiations will be joined by Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Andriy Sybiha and European Union Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU INTCEN) director Daniel Markic. "At the Council meeting, the ministers will assess the current situation in Ukraine and the development of the ceasefire negotiations. Concerning the 18th package of anti-Rusian sanctions, the Slovak government will proceed in the same way as it did in case of previous proposals, with the assessment of the impact on Slovakia's national interests remaining the priority. Slovakia has also informed the EU members and institutions that before it can agree to the 18th package, the REPowerEU plan and its impact on our national and regional energy security, along with the competitiveness of the entire Union, must be clearly defined. Moreover, the dramatic escalation in the Middle East may be another factor in this regard," stated the ministry. "Minister Blanar will also inform partners in Brussels about one of the biggest and logistically most demanding evacuation operations of Slovakia, during which it evacuated a total of 224 people, including Slovak citizens and nationals of 24 other countries, from the Middle East to Larnaca (Cyprus) and Bratislava," said the ministry. Within his working agenda, Blanar will also meet his Czech counterpart Jan Lipavsky and Austrian European and International Affairs Minister Beata Meinl-Reisinger to discuss the cooperation within the Slavkov format with them. ko