Slovakia slams EU Commission chief over lack of Ukraine peace plan

Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs Juraj Blanár has criticized European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s speech, saying it lacked proposals aimed at achieving peace in Ukraine.

“We heard how the EU’s top leadership intends to continue providing military support to Ukraine and exert pressure [on Russia] through further sanctions that have so far failed to work. Yet none of the proposals [in von der Leyen’s speech] mentioned achieving peace or joining peace initiatives [to resolve the conflict],” Blanár said.

He expressed regret that the European Union is still “not at the negotiating table where the terms for ending the war are being discussed, but is only paying Ukraine’s military bills.”

Blanár also questioned von der Leyen’s proposal to establish a European Security Council, saying it could duplicate an existing NATO structure. He added that the EU “should focus on the word peace.”

The Slovak minister also criticized the European Commission’s proposal to completely phase out Russian energy imports, saying Brussels portrays the move as a way to eliminate dependence on a single supplier.

According to Blanár, however, the proposal could instead create “a new dependency” while increasing risks for EU member states that continue to purchase energy resources from Russia.

By Vafa Guliyeva