Christodoulides suggests ‘certain’ EU member states should be present at Ukraine talks

President Nikos Christodoulides on Friday suggested that “certain” European Union member states should be present at talks aimed at bringing to an end almost five years of war in Ukraine, as he arrived at the day’s informal European Council summit in Dublin. “I must first mention that today, at the European Council, we will be informed about the latest developments in the discussions in Abu Dhabi, so we will be informed and we are hoping for positive developments,” he said in response to a question from the Cyprus Mail. He added that the day’s discussions would feature the question of who will represent the European Union at those talks, “because the European Union must be present” On the question of who should represent the EU, he said there are “two schools of thought”, the first of which being that “the European Union should be represented by its own institutions”, meaning European Council President Antonio Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. However, he said, “there is also a second school of thought which says that there should be, if you like, a mix of representation from, yes, the institutions, but also from some member states”. “The position of the Republic of Cyprus is that we do not have a problem with either of those two approaches, but I believe that the presence of member states would have intrinsic value,” he said. Kallas insists that she must represent EU at Ukraine talks His comments come in direct contravention of Kallas’ own position, which she set out on arrival at the summit just minutes later. “All the member states actually agreed that I am the one who is representing Europe in foreign and security policy, so, I mean, that was in 2024, that it was clear that, you know, this is going to be the case. I know that the Russians don’t want me, but, you know, do we have a say who is representing Russia?” she said. She added that she is “ready to do this work with the foreign ministers” of the EU’s 27 foreign ministers, and stressed that “I am representing 27 like I have done already for two years”. Asked why, if she was sure it was her role to be representing the EU in these discussions, she has not “taken the initiative” as United States envoy Steve Witkoff has done, holding talks with both the Ukrainian and Russian sides, she said that “we have institutions in place, so we can’t just send any person that has no institutional role like the Americans”. The latest round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine took place earlier this week in Abu Dhabi, with a host of European bureaucrats travelling to the talks, including von der Leyen’s chief of cabinet Bjoern Seibert, and policy advisors to the French, German, Italian and British governments. Those talks were followed up by an impromptu visit of Witkoff and United States President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to Dublin on Thursday evening, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was attending Thursday’s European Political Community summit. On Thursday, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a prisoner swap, which Kushner said would return “thousands of people to their families”.