UA
FR
DEThe new German government, led by Olaf Scholz, will retain the mediation mission of the Normandy Four and will continue to actively participate in the negotiation process on Ukraine, Ambassador of Ukraine to Berlin Andriy Melnyk has stated.
“In my opinion, Berlin will simply be forced to be active, because an incomplete mediation role will have direct negative consequences for Germany itself and for its international image. Therefore, I cannot imagine that anyone in Berlin could voluntarily give up this mission,” the diplomat said.
According to him, if we theoretically assume that there will be no real breakthrough in the coming months, and instead there will be a sluggish continuation of the process, then it is obvious that such a scenario, in addition to very painful consequences for Ukraine, will inevitably ricochet against Germany’s authority.
“The new coalition cannot allow such a blow to its reputation. Therefore, it seems to me that the “traffic light” government and Chancellor Scholz personally will understand the importance of this mission from the first days and from the first foreign visits to Paris and Warsaw, where, according to our information, this topic will be one of the main ones. It’s not about wanting and not wanting,” the diplomat noted.
He also added that Berlin was unlikely to be interested in leaving the mediating role at the mercy of the U.S. president.
“Germany will be forced to actively and creatively participate in the negotiation process in order to immediately encourage Putin to return to the negotiating table,” Melnyk stressed.
Recently, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron announced after talks in Paris that their countries were determined to continue working in the Normandy format to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, as well as to cooperate within the framework of the Eastern Partnership program to promote Ukraine’s development.
At the same time, the parties said that Berlin and Paris were closely monitoring the situation, as it affected the security of Ukraine, and were making efforts to prevent escalation.
As a reminder, this week the European Union issued a statement stating that the negotiation process within the Trilateral Contact Group and in the Normandy format had been deadlocked due to the Russian Federation’s refusal to recognise itself as a party to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Bohdan Marusyak
