(Reuters) – The new head of French diplomacy, Stéphane Séjourné, arrived in Kyiv on Saturday for his first trip abroad where he met with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kouleba, reaffirming France’s desire to relaunch initiatives Europeans to help Ukraine.
“We want to bring several projects to fruition in the transport, energy, telecoms and water sectors. We are working on setting up a new instrument,” he declared.
While the next European Council will be held on February 1, the former French MEP, aged 38, who replaced Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, assured that Paris would put all its weight behind the adoption of the aid to Ukraine.
Hungary opposed an agreement in December on a 50 billion euro aid program for Ukraine, and the bloc’s leaders must resume discussions to release these funds.
“This instrument of 50 billion euros not only makes it possible to finance the Ukrainian budget (…) that is to say hospitals, schools (…) it will also finance long-term investments, in particular the energy transition”, he listed.
“We must begin this reconstruction,” he insisted, adding that the “European Ukraine of tomorrow begins today.”
For Stéphane Séjourné, the European effort to provide military assistance to Ukraine must also be continued, because it will contribute in particular to the advent of a true European defense instrument.
“I attach great importance to the Weimar Triangle,” he added, referring to the consultation format between the German and Polish leaders before the European negotiations.
(John Irish report, with Michel Rose, written by Claude Chendjou)
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