The leaders of the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) condemned this Tuesday (18) the war in Ukraine, although without mentioning Russia, in the final declaration of the summit held in Brussels, without support from Nicaragua.
“This declaration was supported by all countries, with the exception of one that was unable to reach an agreement due to a paragraph,” said European Council President Charles Michel at a post-summit press conference.
Condemnation of the war in Ukraine marked the negotiations throughout the summit, as the EU insisted on mentioning it in the final declaration, while Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela expressed their opposition.
The second day of the summit began with a draft citing support for countries’ territorial integrity based on the United Nations Charter, but without specific mention of the conflict in Europe, while the final text finally included condemnation of the war in Ukraine.
“We discussed a lot, of course, the fact that everyone wants this war to end and that peace must be lasting and that it must be centered on the UN Charter”, commented, in turn, the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen.
As the negotiations progressed, Havana and Caracas accepted an explicit condemnation of the war in Ukraine and Nicaragua was left alone in its rejection, as it had already done in the UN General Assembly, voting against the resolutions.
The interim Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, considered that the EU-Celac summit was “a complete success” and stressed that “unanimity with almost 60 countries is impossible and even in the European Union of 27 countries it is always possible to be everyone agreed”.
During the summit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nicaraguan dictatorship, Denis Moncada, insisted that the West lift sanctions against China, Iran, Russia and Syria and condemned the sending of cluster bombs to Ukraine recently announced by the United States.
#CELAC #condemn #war #Ukraine #final #statement #Nicaraguan #backing