Good afternoon.

I am convening today the [informal] Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union for our traditional meeting here, in New York, during the United Nations General Assembly – it is the heart of multilateralism. […]

The international rule system has never been so weakly implemented and disrespected. A light of hope, yesterday: the adoption of the Pact for the Future shows that there is big demand for multilateralism.[…]

We, the Europeans, we have a special responsibility to the citizens of the world because the multilateral system – when it works – brings peace and stability.

I will coordinate the approach of the Member States of the European Union this week, on so many different issues and, in particular, about the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East.

On the war in Ukraine, we have had this morning a meeting about the energy situation in Ukraine. It is a critical situation. Putin continues bombing the infrastructure producing electricity and energy for Ukrainians. Almost two thirds of the power capacity have been destroyed. […]

On the Middle East, you know that the situation at the border with Lebanon and in Beirut is becoming very very worrisome, dangerous, with a lot of civilian casualties. At this moment, we are seeing a big exodus of people going from the South of Lebanon to the North. […]

[…] The Beirut bombing has created a high number of civilian casualties. The risk of regional spillover is increasing. There is a path for security for both sides, it is the Security Council resolution. It is clear that Hezbollah has important part of the responsibility on attacking Israel, but these attacks are the continuation of the war in Gaza, which is spilling over to the whole region […]

In particular, the West Bank, where the situation also becomes very much out of any reference to the international law and United Nations resolutions and the European Union’s position.

[…] A ceasefire is needed to release hostages, to make possible humanitarian support; and to start the political process. We cannot wait for a ceasefire, who knows when [the ceasefire] is going to come?

[…]