The EU Reminds All Parties to Return to the Dignity of the UN Charter
European Council President Charles Michel reminded all parties to return to the dignity of the Charter of the United Nations, which affirms respect for the sovereignty and geographical boundaries of each country.
By
LARASWATI ARIADNE ANWAR
·3 minutes read
BADUNG, KOMPAS – The European Union (EU) supports various dialogue spaces opened up by Indonesia as president of the Group of 20 this year. They continue to condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and invite the world to uphold commitments contained in the Charter of the United Nations and various international norms and regulations.
“The impact of this conflict has been very broad and serious. Global food and energy security, hunger and malnutrition are prevalent. Here, the G20 forum should be able to encourage the conflicting parties, especially Russia, to stop the war. Moreover, they have responsibilities as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council,” said European Council President Charles Michel at a press conference in Nusa Dua on Tuesday (11/15/2022).
He reminded all parties to return to the spirit of the UN Charter, which affirms respect for the sovereignty and geographical boundaries of each country. Michel said that the EU’s attitude toward Russia should not be interpreted as the West against Russia, but rather the aggression carried out by the Kremlin as an attack on the UN Charter and international laws.
“I coordinated the Group of Seven [G7] leaders to put pressure on Russia to stop the war, return to the UN Charter and open the export faucet for wheat and fertilizer,” he said.
According to Michel, even before the Russian-Ukrainian war broke out, Russia often withheld export of fertilizer and wheat. Now, with the ongoing war, the Kremlin is taking advantage of the two commodities as weapons of war, even though people all over the world have a right to them. This includes blocking wheat export from Ukraine which, prior to the war, 45 million tonnes was exported to various countries.
The EU has helped release 15 million tonnes of Ukrainian wheat through the EU Solidarity Track and 10 million tonnes through the Black Sea Grain Initiative. A total of 8 billion euros have also been injected to aid food security programs in developing countries.
“We support every developing country to produce its own fertilizer so they do not rely on imports. Likewise with energy sovereignty, because the EU has learned a bitter lesson having depended on Russian oil and gas,” said Michel.
He added that the EU would stick to its commitment to retiring various fossil energy sources for electricity. There is 23 billion euros disbursed for the transition to renewable energy and equal access to energy.
Supporting Indonesia
Regarding the G20 Summit, Michel said he supported Indonesia and did not want to trouble President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. He understands Indonesia’s determination not to exclude Russia from the G20 or change its approach. He believes in diplomacy as a way to discuss various issues.
Regarding the dialogue between United States President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Michel appreciated the diplomacy. US-China issues are complicated and the two countries have shown maturity by choosing the path of dialogue.
Even so, continued Michel, the EU would tread carefully. They do not want relations with China to end in dependence, as happened with the EU on Russian energy. The EU does not want to be too reliant on Chinese export commodities and encourages supply chain diversity.