French President Emmanuel Macron held an informal video conference call with 19 European countries and Canada last night to strengthen coordination on Ukraine, the Elysee Palace announced, quoted by DPA, BTA reported.
The Elysee Palace said that the heads of state or government of Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Canada participated in this “informal video conference“, AFP reported.
“I have just had a long conversation with several colleagues from the European Union, as well as with Canada, Iceland and Norway. The position of France and its partners is clear and united. "We want a peace in Ukraine that is lasting and stable," the president wrote in "Ex." It was organized after Macron gathered key EU leaders in Paris on Monday on the same topic.
Macron specified that Paris and its partners share "the same goal as President (of the United States) Donald Trump - to put an end to the military aggression launched by Russia for almost three years now."
But he added that European peace efforts would be based on certain principles: "Ukraine must always be included and its rights respected; peace must be lasting and accompanied by credible and stable guarantees; European security concerns must be taken into account“.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov expressed his belief at the virtual meeting that any peace negotiation process must be based on the principled position that the fate of a country cannot be decided without its participation at the negotiating table. At the same time, Bulgaria firmly believes that Europe is a natural ally of the United States and as such it must be an equal participant in the diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine, the Bulgarian Prime Minister also emphasized.