Diplomacy

The EU has condemned the decision of the Belarus government decision to suspend the country's membership in the Eastern Partnership, and said it would continue to co-operate with the people of Belarus.

China was on everyone's lips at numerous summits and international gatherings in the last days and weeks, writes Benyamin Poghosyan in this op-ed for commonspace.eu. "China will be among the key world players throughout the 21st century; it will be the number one economic power, and all have to accept and adapt to this reality. No one has the necessary capacity to contain China, despite the fact that many want to, for the moment for doing that has passed." 

The Egypt-Jordan-Iraq summit comes within the framework of the tripartite co-operation mechanism between the three countries, which held its first round in Cairo in March 2019. Whilst not mentioned in official statements, the trilateral relationship established between Egypt, Iraq and Jordan is seen partly as an attempt to neutralise Iran’s influence across the region.

The foreign ministers of Austria, Romania and Lithuania visited Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia 25-26 June as special emissaries of the EU High Representative Josep Borrell. commonspace.eu political editor said in a comment that this was a small but important gesture with the purpose of sending a clear message to the region, and to others interested in it, that the European Union remains committed and engaged.

US Special Envoy to Yemen Timothy Lenderking has said the United States recognises the Houthi movement as a legitimate party in Yemen. The Houthi group responded that the recognition meant nothing serious to them and the Yemeni government commented that Lenderking's comments were understood out of context.

EU leaders stressed the need to further deepen and intensify political, economic and people-to-people ties and co-operation with the Eastern Partners, and underlined their commitment to deepen relations with Central Asia, but Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova want a membership perspective.

EU leaders on Thursday (24 June) EU's relations with Russia and Turkey, two important and strategic countries with whom the European Union has a complex relationship. The tone adopted in dealing with the two countries was very different, as is appropriate given that Turkey remains an EU candidate country, whilst Russia is increasingly seen as a disruptive neighbour and rival.