JUNCKER CONGRATULATES PUTIN BUT EU PUTS RUSSIA ON SUMMIT AGENDA
 |
| European Commision President Jean-Claude Juncker speaks during the official ceremony of answers to the European Commission's Questionnaire in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
The European Union’s chief executive has
written to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election,
while EU leaders will discuss how to defend Europe from Russian disinformation
and cyber attacks at a summit later this week.
Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker published the letter on his Twitter account on Tuesday. It
echoes calls for dialogue by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French
President Emmanuel Macron.
“Our common
objective should be to re-establish a cooperative pan-European security order,”
Juncker wrote.
Putin, in power as
president or prime minister since 1999, won a fourth term on Sunday in an
election in which he faced no credible challenge, at a time when relations with
the West are at post-Cold war lows. Other European countries have supported
Britain, which accuses Moscow of poisoning a former spy with a nerve agent in
England in an attack on March 4.
“This is no time for
congratulations,” EU lawmaker Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian premier, said
in response to Juncker’s letter.
Donald Tusk,
chairman of EU summits, said in a letter to EU leaders that he will put Russia
on the agenda of their summit dinner on Thursday in Brussels, following the
British poisoning.
The agenda will
include a debate on strengthening the EU’s defenses against so-called “hybrid
warfare” attacks. Britain has not asked for new economic sanctions, one EU
official said.
In a statement on
Monday, EU foreign ministers said the bloc “takes extremely seriously the UK
government’s assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is
responsible”. Russia denies any involvement.
Juncker, a former
Luxembourg premier, courted criticism in June 2016 when he attended an economic
forum with Putin in St Petersburg when most EU leaders were seeking to isolate
Russia diplomatically over Russia’s 2014 seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea.
SOURCE: REUTERS
No comments