Brussels -- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stresses that a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine remains a priority task.
“I said just now to President Poroshenko – and I said it also yesterday to President Putin – we are in a very serious, I would say, dramatic situation. We may see a situation where we reach the point of no return. If the escalation of the conflict continues, this point of no return can come,” Barroso said at a briefing after a meeting with Poroshenko in Brussels on Saturday, Aug. 30.
“I believe it’s still not yet too late to find a political solution. I believe we should do everything we have in our capacity to avoid an escalation. That would certainly be detrimental to the interests, first of all, of Ukraine but certainly also of Russia and of Europe as a whole,” he said.
Barroso said that at his initiative the European Union was represented at the Minsk meeting with presidents of Ukraine and the Eurasian Troika earlier this week.
“I have personally being engaged intensively with both sides over the past weeks,” he said. “I have been in continuous contacts with Presidents Putin and Poroshenko, calling for a political solution to the crisis,” Barroso said.
“And the Commission as a whole is doing its utmost to help solve the conflict,” he said. “Thanks to our efforts, we’ll resume trilateral talks on energy in the beginning of September to facilitate a solution to the gas dispute.” What is more, a ministerial meeting on the implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU is to be held in Brussels possibly on Sept. 12.
“But at the same time, the European Union has been very clear that all this needs to go hand in hand with a solution to the political and security problem,” he added.
