Yahoo Finance EU split over Russian relations as May calls for support over spy poisoning
EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker has defended his decision to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his re-election ahead of Theresa May’s speech to European leaders on relations with Russia.
The European Commission President was widely condemned in Britain for wishing the Russian president “every success” in a letter sent on Tuesday.
And European Council president Donald Tusk last night made clear he would not be following suit, saying: “After the Salisbury attack, I’m not in the mood to celebrate President Putin’s reappointment.”
But Juncker refused to back down when asked by reporters about the letter as the EU leaders’ summit got underway in Brussels.
He told them: “Compare the letter I sent to Mr Putin with the one Mrs Merkel sent – it’s exactly the same.”
His comments come ahead of discussions on how to respond to the Salisbury nerve agent attack at today’s EU Council summit.
Theresa May will use an address to other heads of state at a working dinner in Brussels tonight to call on them to follow Britain’s lead in expelling Russian spies.
She is expected to say that Russian has shown “disrespect for international rules and norms clearly threatens the basis for our advanced democracies, open societies, and free economies.”
And she will add: “The Russian threat does not respect borders, and as such we are all at risk.”
European leaders have expressed solidarity with UK but appear reluctant to take further sanctions against Russia, having already frozen the assets of Russian companies and imposed travel bans on individuals in response to the annexation of Crimea.
A draft statement concludes that the EU “takes extremely seriously” the UK Government’s assessment that Russia is responsible for the chemical weapons attack.
But it stops short of naming and shaming Russia for the attack.
Federica Mogherini, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, said Brexit did not have a bearing on the position.
“The strongest political sign we can give is unity, unity and unity, including in the moment when we move forward on negotiations with Brexit,” she said
“This doesn’t mean anything in diminishing our solidarity, on the contrary we stand together.”
Yahoo UK reported on Monday how French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said there was no other plausible explanation than Russian responsibility.
And the leader of the European Parliament’s largest political group said today that fresh sanctions should remain on the table.
“It must be clear that Europe is always ready to increase the pressure if we see the ongoing aggressive behaviour of Russia,” said German MEP Manfred Weber.
But the Spanish foreign minister this week called for an “extended examination” of the evidence.
Greece and Italy are also said to be resistance to apportioning blame to Russia.
Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras said today: “We have to express our solidarity to the UK, to the British people but at the same time we need to investigate…we have to be very responsible on that issue.”
EU leaders are set to rubber stamp the deal on a transition phase tomorrow and will also discuss how to respond to the tariffs placed on steel and aluminium by US president Donald Trump.
Theresa May said she was “looking forward” to clearing another Brexit hurdle as she arrived at the summit.
She said: “We’ve made considerable progress through the agreement of the implementation period which will bring certainty to businesses and people and I look forward to the European Council endorsing that agreement and moving on swiftly to the future partnership that we all want to build together.”
