Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The October meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU will start in Luxembourg, and be headed by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
In the meeting on 14 Oct 2024, EU Foreign Affairs Ministers will examine the Russian aggression against Ukraine, after an informal exchange of ideas with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha, via videoconference. On 9 October 2024, the EU Council reached an arrangement on a financial aid package for Ukraine, including an exceptional macro-financial aid loan of up to €35 billion; a loan collaboration mechanism that will sustain Ukraine in repaying loans of up to €45 billion delivered by the EU and G7 partners.
The financial assistance seeks to provide immediate relief to Ukraine’s urgent financing needs that have grown due to Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. The repayment of the macro-financial assistance loan and qualified bilateral loans from G7 partners will be guaranteed by funds coming from future flows of extraordinary revenues arising from the immobilisation of Russian sovereign assets.
The Council will also discuss the situation in the Middle East, in light of the recent happenings. The European Council has been following the crisis in the Middle East very closely since Hamas’ terrorist aggression against Israel on 7 October 2023.
At its session on 27 June 2024, the European Council assumed conclusions on the situation in the Middle East. With regard to the humanitarian crisis, the European Council reaffirmed the urgency of full, rapid, safe and unchecked access to humanitarian aid at scale for Palestinians in need and of permitting and facilitating humanitarian employees and international organisations to work effectively inside Gaza.
Moreover, under current affairs, EU Foreign Affairs Ministers will likely be notified about elections in Georgia and Moldova and may touch on the crisis in the Horn of Africa and Venezuela. Over lunch, EU Foreign Affairs Ministers will have an informal discussion of views with the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, David Lammy.
