7th March 2014

EU heads of state and government support Ukraine

Last week saw a series of steps taken by the EU on the Ukraine crisis. On Monday 3 March an extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council was held, followed on Thursday 6 March by an extraordinary meeting of EU heads of state and government. The heads of Member States´ executives officially condemned Russian aggression and assured Ukraine, represented at the meeting by Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, of their full support. The EU leaders called for negotiations and de-escalation of the situation, mainly concerning Crimea. Regarding Crimea´s plan to join the Russian Federation, the leaders consider such steps illegal. EU agreed on suspending bilateral talks with Russia on visa matters and on the so-called New Agreement and joined the other G7 partners in the suspension of preparations for the scheduled Sochi G8 summit. Further sanctions will be imposed if meaningful progress in the de-escalation of the situation is not seen in short term, including individual visa bans and asset freezes, as well as some economic measures. The EU agreed to sign the political parts of the Association Agreement with Ukraine on 25 May and to provide substantial financial aid to Kyiv.

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Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic