Premier: EU Has Taken Courage to Agree on Delegation for Ukraine Talks

Dublin, 13 November (TASR) - Following the informal EU summit in Dublin on Friday, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) welcomed the leaders' agreement on who will represent Europe in negotiations with Ukraine, Russia and the US. "The EU has finally plucked up the courage; this is a huge step forward," Fico told journalists before departing for Bratislava, reiterating that Slovakia won't contribute to a further loan for Ukraine, but is prepared to continue providing humanitarian aid. According to the premier, the European delegation will comprise two representatives from the European Council, one representative from the European Commission and representatives from five countries - the UK, Germany, Poland, Italy and France. "I consider it to be an extremely important development that the European Union has finally found the courage to put together a delegation that intends to take part in negotiations with Ukraine, Russia and the United States," said Fico at a press briefing, adding that EU leaders held a difficult discussion on this matter in Dublin because "there was a lack of courage to give this group a mandate". The prime minister pointed out, however, that the mandate to be given to the European representatives is still to be discussed at a meeting of the 'coalition of the willing' in Berlin, which is due to take place on Thursday, 19 November. In this context, he announced that Slovakia will attend the meeting as an observer. Fico expects that it will be very difficult to reach an agreement during the negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine. "But we must show that Europe is among those who support peace, not war," he stressed. am