Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expecting two European Union summits on Wednesday and Thursday. And a delicate mission. The Chancellor plays a key role as mediator in the dispute between Russia and Ukraine.
On Thursday, Olaf Scholz will have his premiere as Federal Chancellor at an EU summit. On Wednesday he will take part in a top meeting of the 27 EU countries with the heads of state and government of Ukraine, Georgia and three other former Soviet republics. According to Berlin government circles, the Eastern Summit will be preceded by a three-way meeting on Wednesday afternoon between the Chancellor, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian Head of State Volodymyr Selenskyj.
This is also tricky because Zelenskyi made massive accusations against Berlin on the day before the summit: the German government recently prevented Ukraine from “receiving supplies of weapon systems for defense as part of NATO cooperation,” he criticized in an interview .
Berlin reacts with a sniffle: The Federal Government “need not be accused of having failed to show commitment”. The best response to the Russian threat is “not a massive armament of Ukraine”, but rather a disarmament of Russia, it is said in government circles.
Putin as an elephant in the room
The “Eastern Partnership” club, founded in 2009, should actually lead to the reduction of such tensions and to a rapprochement with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. The alliance suffered a massive setback this summer when Belarus suspended cooperation in the dispute with the EU over sanctions because of the repression of the opposition. As at the Eastern Summit in 2017, the ruler Alexander Lukashenko will be the great absentee.
But Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is also the proverbial elephant in the room. Putin viewed the eastern partnership of the EU with suspicion from the start – he suspected a master plan for the acceptance of the countries on his border.
“Signal of solidarity and support”
In addition to Ukraine, which fears a Russian military invasion, Georgia and Moldova are also facing pressure from Moscow. The first summit in four years is “an ideal opportunity to send a signal of solidarity and support” to the former Soviet republics, says an EU representative.
The EU is paying a lot for solidarity: The summit participants want to offer loans totaling 2.3 billion euros, thereby stimulating private and public investments amounting to 17 billion euros in the partner countries. In return, the EU hopes to increase its commitment against corruption and for the rule of law.
A warning to Russia is expected from the subsequent EU summit on Thursday that an invasion of Ukraine would have “painful” economic and political consequences, as it is said in Berlin. According to Brussels, the EU is examining economic sanctions such as the exclusion of Russia from the international financial trading system Swift.
Olaf Scholz has to expect questions about Nord Stream 2
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) also brought the Nord Stream 2 pipeline not to go into operation. At his first EU summit, Scholz now has to reckon with questions – from countries like Poland, which are calling for an out of the pipeline, but also from Austria, which also purchases gas from Russia and is demanding that the federal government put it into operation quickly. Government circles say that there is currently “no need for a decision” on the pipeline because the Federal Network Agency stopped the approval process for the time being in mid-November.
The EU summit, which this time only takes one day due to the fourth corona wave, also deals with the highly contagious Omikron variant, the increased energy prices and migration. With all these issues, Scholz is “willing to move Europe forward”, it is said in his environment.
Source From: Stern
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
