Farnesina –
The Vice President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Antonio Tajani, is today on a mission to Brussels to participate in the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union.
The meeting, chaired by High Representative Josep Borrell, will open with a discussion on the situation in the Middle East, followed by an informal exchange with the United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Reconstruction in Gaza, Sigrid Kaag. The protection of freedom of navigation and trade in the Red Sea is also central, to which the EU will contribute with the naval operation “Aspides”: tomorrow the European Foreign Ministers will officially approve its launch. Aspides, of which Italy – which proposed the initiative, together with France and Germany – will have operational command, is an important signal of strengthening for European defence.
The situation in the Sahel is also on the agenda. This is the third discussion in just over three months and will focus on the modalities of future European commitment in the region. In particular, the Ministers will discuss how to ensure continuity of the EU’s role in the face of growing local instability.
Italy, together with other member states, will launch a discussion of the 27 on the death in prison of the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. A topic already raised by Tajani at the first meeting of the G7 Foreign Ministers for the year of the Italian Presidency, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on 17 February.
The Ministers will then have a working session dedicated to Russian aggression against Ukraine, in which the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, will also participate. At the request of the Baltic States, there will also be a discussion on the situation in Belarus.
