The Foreign Ministers of the European People’s Party (EPP), chaired by Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the EPP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, and David McAllister, Chair of the AFET Committee of the European Parliament, met this evening in Rome to prepare the agenda for the next EU Foreign Affairs Council.
For the first time, the group welcomed Anita Orbán, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, and Tone Kajzer, the new Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia.
The participants exchanged their views on Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine and held a strategic discussion on all aspects of the European Union’s support for Ukraine. The Ministers also reviewed the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Lebanon, before addressing the situation in the Black Sea and other current issues, including relations between the European Union and the United Nations and the upcoming meeting of the High-Level Forum between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
At the end of the meeting, Co-President Antonio Tajani stated: “We are here united as the EPP family, the strongest political family in Europe. We need to make our voice heard more strongly in the conflicts surrounding us, starting with the Middle East, and continue to ensure our full support for Ukraine. We also need to relaunch the European Union’s enlargement process, with Ukraine and Moldova, without forgetting that the Western Balkans also remain a priority.” At the end of the meeting, the Ministers took stock of the next EPP Congress, to be held in Rome in spring 2027.
