{"id":2188,"date":"2025-11-18T15:15:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T15:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/?p=2188"},"modified":"2025-11-18T16:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T16:06:13","slug":"a-reality-check-for-eu-foreign-policy-my-message-to-mrs-kallas-and-colleagues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/a-reality-check-for-eu-foreign-policy-my-message-to-mrs-kallas-and-colleagues\/","title":{"rendered":"A REALITY CHECK FOR EU FOREIGN POLICY \u2014 MY open LETTER TO HRVP Mrs Kaja Kallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I shared with the High Representative and Vice-President Kaja Kallas a detailed letter outlining my views on the current situation between Russia and Ukraine, following my visit to Sochi last week. I have now sent this letter to all Members of the European Parliament so that everyone may take note of my assessment and concerns. Please find the full, open letter below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs High Representative,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am writing to bring to your attention a number of principles and suggestions that I recently made in meetings and in a speech at the BRICS-EUROPE Symposium in Sochi, regarding possible ways to help achieve a sustainable resolution to the conflict in and around Ukraine.  I believe these points can usefully inform the European Union\u2019s diplomatic approach at this critical juncture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union should, in my view, pursue the following guiding principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. The EU should engage without further delay in a dialogue with Russia. There is no doubt that the Russian side is open to such a dialogue and would welcome it. The EU is the only regional grouping and major international actor in the world that has no dialogue with Russia, which is an unsustainable position. Any renewed diplomatic engagement between the European Union and Russia must be explicitly framed in a way that is not perceived as opposing American interests. Such engagement should either proceed in parallel with, or actively encourage, a similar rapprochement<\/em> between the United States and Russia.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. To make a future peace arrangement acceptable to all Parties, the European Union should involve as many relevant international organisations as necessary. In particular, the OSCE should be tasked with negotiating confidence-building measures and new ceilings on conventional forces in Europe. Such agreements would have the added advantage of preventing a new arms race and of making it easier for Ukraine to accept reductions in its own armed forces if comparable reductions are simultaneously implemented in other European regions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Once the European Union re-engages with Russia, it should frankly acknowledge the serious problem of radical nationalism inside Ukraine and employ its considerable soft power to support genuine nation-building and the fostering of an inclusive, peaceful and tolerant civic identity in that country.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The European Union should help to establish effective protections for minorities\u2014and their cultural, linguistic and religious rights\u2014wherever they reside in the wider conflict zone. Ukrainian-speaking and other communities remain in the territories now under Russian control; Russian, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian and other minorities live in the territories controlled by Ukraine. Peace efforts should draw on expertise from bodies such as the OSCE and Council of Europe to protect the rights of minorities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Any lasting settlement must fully respect the religious beliefs and spiritual traditions of all communities concerned. The protection of freedom of religion and the preservation of sacred sites and ecclesiastical structures are not secondary issues; they are essential components of human dignity and of genuine reconciliation. Consequently, the rights of traditional churches must be reestablished and protected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. The European Union has no clear doctrine on the principle of territorial integrity. We see this, for instance, in the cases of Serbia and the Republic of Cyprus:
    1. Kosovo is not recognised by several EU Member States;<\/li><\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. The continuing occupation of Northern Cyprus has not prevented Turkiye from retaining candidate status for EU accession, even though Cyprus is an EU Member State.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Hence, a pragmatic and realistic approach to such issues\u2014rather than a dogmatic one\u2014would demonstrate the European Union\u2019s commitment to securing a real and lasting peace in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • The militarization of the EU makes a possible future accession of Ukraine much more complicated. Ukraine should therefore not be incorporated into EU programs with a defence character. Security arrangements for Ukraine must be negotiated in the wider framework of peace negotiations. Following such a strategy makes peace more likely.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • The EU should offer generous humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine in a post-war environment. Reconstruction for war-affected regions and re-settlement efforts for refugees must be prioritised.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          I sincerely believe that a diplomatic engagement built on these principles offers the best chance of moving from a sterile and dangerous confrontation to a stable and just peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I would be grateful if you and your services could give these suggestions serious consideration and put them on the agenda of the next Foreign Affairs Council meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Fernand Kartheiser, MEP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Today I shared with the High Representative and Vice-President Kaja Kallas a detailed letter outlining my views on the current situation between Russia and Ukraine, following my visit to Sochi last week. I have now sent this letter to all Members of the European Parliament so that everyone may take note of my assessment and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,25,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-communique-de-presse","category-lettres"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2188"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2215,"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2188\/revisions\/2215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkartheiser.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}