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fullscreenDanish frigate Iver Huitfeldt. Stock photo. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau/AP/TT
Formal approval is awaited for the EU’s intervention in the Red Sea. At the same time, agreement is being sought at the last minute on further sanctions regarding the war in Ukraine.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen expects that the political agreement on the Red Sea that existed already a month ago will now become formal.
– I feel absolutely certain that a concrete result of the meeting today is an EU contribution to the Red Sea. It is on a defensive mandate. It’s about protecting and following the merchant ships, he says on his way to Monday’s meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels.
Denmark has made it clear that it will participate in the operation with the frigate Iver Huitfeldt, which has already left to be able to also take part in the US-led protection operation Prosperity Guardian in the same area.
Sweden is also expected to participate militarily in the EU effort, albeit not with any ships.
At the same time, the EU countries continue to pursue agreement on a 13th package of sanctions against Russia. However, time is short if it is to make it in time for the two-year anniversary on Saturday of Russia’s renewed attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Hungary has not yet given the go-ahead to the latest proposal, which EU ambassadors hope to approve at a meeting on Wednesday.