EU belooft hulp bij herstel oorlogsschade

De Europese Unie wil een belangrijke bijdrage leveren aan het herstel van de oorlogsschade in Oost-Oekraïne als de rust daar eenmaal hersteld is. Buitenlandchef Federica Mogherini zei op een informele bijeenkomst van ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken van de EU-landen in Bratislava dat de Europese Unie economische hulp ''nadrukkelijker wil inzetten om politiek resultaten te boeken''.

Mogherini meent dat de EU een beslissende rol spelen bij het herstellen van de infrastructuur. ''We geven al veel steun aan Oekraïne, maar we willen dat zichtbaarder maken met humanitaire en economische projecten. Maar ook met onder meer het opruimen van landmijnen en steun aan het lokale bestuur willen we de hoop en vertrouwen bij de bevolking terug zien te brengen.''

De EU-ministers spraken volgens Mogherini opnieuw hun vertrouwen uit dat de onderhandelingen in de Wit-Russische hoofdstad Minsk en het Normandische overleg van Oekraïne, Rusland, Duitsland en Frankrijk er uiteindelijk voor zorgen dat er een einde komt aan het oorlogsgeweld in de Donbas. Ook werd besproken welke rol de Europese Unie kan spelen bij het houden van lokale verkiezingen in de bezette gebieden, op voorwaarde dat die verkiezingen voldoen aan de voorwaarden van de OVSE voor een eerlijk verloop ervan.

Bron: Unian

EU pledges economic support, help in reconstruction after peace restored in Donbas High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini says that after peace is restored in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, the EU will use its economic support in "a more visible way to encourage political talks." Politics 23:57, 02 September, 2016 141 READ LATER REUTERS REUTERS "We decided to focus our continued support also on what can happen after the implementation of the Minsk agreements is realised, because we know very well that this falls exactly in the added value of the European Union's tools," Mogherini said on the first day of a Gymnich meeting, a traditional informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Bratislava on Friday. "When it comes to the economy, when it comes to reconstruction, when it comes to humanitarian, when it comes to interconnections, when it comes to energy, transport – these are all fields where the European Union – and only the European Union – can bring a lot. Our support to Ukraine, as you know, is already immense and will continue, and we can probably use it in a more visible way to encourage political talks," she said. "We discussed the possibility for the European Union to play a leading role in the reconstruction of the country, in particular certain regions after the full implementation of Minsk is reached," she said. In her words, they also explored possibilities to have more economic projects and more humanitarian projects so as to help in the immediate term. "We know very well that these kind of activities, including some technical support to activities like de-mining or supporting local governance, are key because they can be a basis for hope for the local populations and so encouraging the confidence-building measures," she said. During the meeting, the EU foreign ministers agreed that the Minsk accords and the Normandy format constitute a framework to deal with the crisis in eastern Ukraine. "We all agreed on the fact that these accords have helped to diffuse a very hot conflict in the past and that they constitute the basis we all support actively for the future. So full support to the Normandy format, full support to the Minsk implementation," she said. Read also Russia blocks Normandy meeting at G20 summit, separate meetings scheduled She also said that they had discussed "concrete ideas on how the European Union can do more in this respect, in particular providing support to holding local elections in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions once the conditions established by the OSCE/ODIHR are met, giving some attention in particular to the intended OSCE police mission." Read also Klimkin sees Ukraine as point of no return for OSCE "We also discussed the possibility of enhancing our support to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission, which we are already doing, but we can do more. And we explored possibilities for increasing our support on the ground: short-term, with actions like financial and technical support to activities to improve the living conditions of the population, especially in the energy sector," she added.

Read more on UNIAN: http://www.unian.info/politics/1501129-eu-pledges-economic-support-help-in-reconstruction-after-peace-restored-in-donbas.html