Foreign Affairs Council: Press conference by High Representative Kaja Kallas

First, we had the discussion on the European Security Strategy. It is clear that the security environment is changing fast, and we cannot respond with emergency summits alone. We need a long-term policy, and that is why we had the first exchange of views with the Ministers today. So, we will take a broad view of security, linking defence, but also energy supply chains and other policy areas. Member States will shape this security strategy from the start. And today we focus the discussion on principles, scope, priorities. And an updated joint threat assessment will be also basis for the strategy.

Then we discussed the war on Ukraine. Moscow stands to gain from higher energy prices and the diversion of air defences from Ukraine to the Middle East. Ministers were clear that Ukraine remains a European top security priority and attention for Ukraine will not be allowed to fizzle out.

The same drones that are hitting Kyiv are hitting the states of the Gulf, so as Ukraine has the best drone defences, we also discussed briefly how we can put these things together: the needs for the Gulf countries, but also the needs of Ukraine and the defence sector and industry.

Russia keeps spilling the war over to its neighbours. Russia strikes on Ukrainian hydro power plant threatened to contaminate Moldova's water supply. We are supporting Moldova with equipment aid and satellite imagery.

Following the US decision to ease sanctions on Russian oil, Europe will maintain sanctions and continue to move away from Russian fossil fuels. If we want this war to end, Moscow must have less money for the war, not more. Dialling up pressure on Russia's shadow fleet is one of the best tools we have. I commend France, Belgium and also Sweden for boarding and seizing falsely flagged tankers. It is time for the gloves to come off on Russia's shadow fleet. On the EU side, the adoption of the 20th sanctions package is long overdue. We discussed how to push this forward. The same goes for the €90 billion loan.

Those who enable this war are also paying a price. Member States renewed sanctions on over 2,600 individuals, and today, Ministers also adopted new sanctions targeting those seeking to destabilise the European Union. We also listed new entities in China and Iran responsible for the cyber-attacks.

Then we had the discussion and exchange of views with the Foreign Minister of India. It was very timely, because they are also very much affected by the war in the Middle East. We discussed in broader terms the world order and also, what more we can do to keep a world order that is based on some kind of rules. And also regarding, freedom of navigation and how to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. And then we had the discussion on the Middle East. Two weeks of war have degraded Iran's military capabilities but also generated damaging security and economic shock waves. Iran is now waging war on the global economy. Ministers reaffirmed today that our focus is de-escalation and also freedom of navigation.

I also discussed with UN Secretary General Guterres and many others over the past days, how to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Europe has no interest in an open-ended war. Following the regime's deadly crackdown in January, the EU designated the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation, and today, we imposed additional sanctions on those responsible for the violence. This sends a message to Tehran that Iran's future cannot be built on repression. We must step up our support also to the Iranian civil society. This is not Europe's war, but Europe's interests are directly at stake. As this war expands, the EU’s priority remains the protection of our citizens. We have evacuated more than 30,000 from the region, many on the flights also funded and organised by the European Union.

Now, restarting the shipments of fertilisers, food and energy through the Strait of Hormuz is another urgent priority. Today, we discussed options to better protect the shipping in the region. The EU already has naval operations in place. We have ASPIDES that plays a key role in safeguarding freedom of navigation.

There was in our discussions a clear wish to strengthen this operation. But for the time being, there was no appetite in changing the mandate of operation ASPIDES - for now. While the Strait of Hormuz is at the centre stage, the Red Sea also remains critical. The risk that Houthis get involved is real, so we must remain vigilant.

Then, in Lebanon, Hezbollah has dragged the country into a war that is not its own. The Lebanese people are paying the price for Hezbollah's attacks. But Israel's heavy-handed response has caused mass displacement, and ground invasion will further deteriorate the situation. The EU will provide €100 million in humanitarian aid to Lebanon. We also continue to support the Lebanese Armed Forces to disarm Hezbollah. The situation in Gaza and the West Bank is also worsening rapidly. Both the humanitarian situation and the political horizon are moving to the wrong direction. Progress on implementing the Gaza peace plan has been stalled, and the EU will continue to press for improved humanitarian access, de-escalation and also support for the Palestinian Authority’s reforms. Next month, I will co-chair a Global Alliance meeting to address all these issues. Ministers also reviewed the progress on the Pact for the Mediterranean ahead of the leaders’ meeting in Nicosia next month. We are preparing to hold the EU Mediterranean Regional Security Forum to coordinate issues such as maritime security, but also counter terrorism.

And finally, following the request from Armenia, the EU will deploy a Hybrid Rapid Response Team to help counter the threats ahead of the country's elections. Supporting democratic resilience in our neighbourhood remains essential. We will not leave Armenia to face foreign interference alone. Democracies under pressure can count on Europe. Ministers also discussed a wide range of issues, including further democratic deterioration in Georgia, but we will go into more details in the next FAC.

I will stop here so that we also have time for questions.

Q&A

Q. You just say that you had discussed the option to better protect the shipping in the region, but on the other hand, you said that Member States have no appetite to change the mandate of the mission the EU has in the region. So could you elaborate a bit on the option you might finally take? And second question, if I may; can you also tell us what kind of guidance you received from the Member States on the European Security Strategy you discussed this morning. Thank you.

First, the shipping in the region. This is not Europe's war - this situation in the region. We have the operation ASPIDES, as I said, in the Red Sea. The discussion was that it should be strengthened, because it does not have too many naval assets. It should have more. But the discussion on whether we are also extending this mandate to cover the Strait of Hormuz, to go north from the Muscat line, there was no appetite from the Member States to do that. As I said, nobody wants to go actively in this war. And of course, everybody is concerned what will be the outcome. What was stressed as well was the diplomatic outreach to have solutions. We were also discussing with the Minister from India what kind of experience they have in this regard, and whether there could be possibilities to take this forward.

On the Security Strategy, I have already received a lot of non-papers from Member States. Member States were stressing what is important. What they were also saying is that we should not duplicate the documents we have in place. We should rather focus also on the implementation and address the new concerns that we have right now. We are in a very, very initial phase of this work, so it was really a mapping exercise to listen from the Member States what are their concerns. And I also encouraged all Member States to come up with the papers. So, if we have all of them, we can take them all together and put this forward. What I want to see is that it is short and political, not covering all the aspects. But let us see what comes out.

Q. Madam High Representative, I have a couple of questions, one on Iran, one on the West Bank. On the West Bank and in Gaza, the killing is ongoing. Yesterday, a family of four persons have been killed in their car, on their way just to buy things for the end of Ramadan. Among these four persons were just two children, and they were killed by the army. The killing is ongoing in Gaza. My question is: Don't you think that you are not pressing Israel enough, and that this war is diverting the international attention, the European attention from the situation in the West Bank and Gaza? On in Iran if you do not mind, the chair of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said this afternoon, that the core lesson drawn from her investigation is that the military action does not provide accountability, nor does it bring meaningful change in Iran. Instead, it is risking to intensify the domestic repression. After the discussion, could you enlighten us? What is the political objective? Is there any in this war, if you have got some conclusion on that in this meeting? Thank you

Yes, it is true that this new war in the Middle East is diverting the attention away from what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank. And Ministers also raised this issue, because we see that this momentum is used to again hinder the humanitarian access, humanitarian aid getting into Gaza. The second phase of the peace plan is totally stalled, so we have to keep this up, the attention there. And also the violent settlers, I mean killing people without accountability, this is a major, major problem. And that is why there was also, again, this call that we have the sanctions on the violent settlers on the table. 26 countries want this, one is blocking. That is the sad reality that we have. On the military action, the goals of this military action need to be given by those who have started this war. Europe is not part of this war. We have not started this war and the political objectives are unclear. Of course, we talk to different parties. But with wars, it is easy to start, very hard to stop, and also it gets very messy, it gets out of hand. What we see right now, in terms of the economic consequences, 20% of the world's energy - I mean, oil and gas - goes through the Strait of Hormuz. It is affecting Asia, mostly. Fertilisers are going through the Strait of Hormuz. It is affecting Asia, but also Africa. If we do not have fertilisers now this year, we will have a famine next year. So, it is a very, very big war with many consequences, and that is why we are also reaching out to our partners, how we can collectively convince the warring parties to stop. So we are working on that.

Q. While you were talking, the Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said that the Strait is only closed for Iran's enemies. Could that be a basis for a diplomatic solution?

This was also the discussion that we had with the Foreign Minister of India. And as I said, we are working on the diplomatic solutions. Now, the problem is, of course, it is also that there are so many players at stake when it comes to the shipping. You have the insurance companies who are also reading papers and saying that there is a huge risk, so the prices go up. There are also the crews of the ships. So, [the] captain is eventually making the decisions whether the ship goes and takes this risk or not. If they are not assured enough, they are not putting their crews at risk. And nobody, nobody can force the crews to go to the dangerous situation. Let me put it this way: you have to have concrete, tangible results to show that now it is peaceful and safe to go through. It is not only the assessment whether we are the enemies, or we are not the enemies. It is very complicated. And definitely, all the European support for diplomatic solution.