Pope Francis urges belligerents to negotiate. The European Parliament and EU member states agree on a cap on Ukrainian agricultural imports. The American Secretary of Defense is optimistic about a possible release of American aid to Ukraine.
Information to remember
⇒ Pope Francis calls on belligerents to “negotiate” to escape “the horror of war”
⇒ European Union caps imports of certain Ukrainian agricultural products
⇒ US says it won’t let Ukraine ‘fail’ against Russia
Francis calls for “negotiation” to escape “the horror of war”
Pope Francis urged the belligerents on Wednesday March 20 to make “every effort to negotiate” in order to emerge from the “horror of war” in Gaza and Ukraine.
In an interview published on March 9, the head of the Catholic Church called on Ukraine to “raise a white flag and negotiate” to end the war “before things get worse”, provoking strong protests. diplomatic tensions with Kiev. These “unfortunate” statements “shocked” and “tainted the credibility of the Pope on the Ukrainian issue,” diplomatic sources told AFP.
EU: Ukrainian agricultural imports capped
The EU agreed on Wednesday March 20 to cap certain Ukrainian agricultural imports exempt from customs duties – eggs, poultry, sugar, but also oats, corn and honey -, responding to a reason for anger in the sector, but without however including wheat in this mechanism.
The agreement concluded overnight between the EU States and the European Parliament certainly renews for an additional year, from June, the general exemption from customs duties granted since 2022 to Ukraine to support Kiev after the Russian invasion. But the EU also combines it with “safeguard mechanisms”, targeting “particularly sensitive” products.
Customs-cleared imports of these products will thus be de facto capped at the average levels imported by the EU in 2022 and 2023, levels beyond which customs duties will be automatically reimposed.
US ‘won’t let Ukraine fail’
The American Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, promised Tuesday, March 19, in Germany, that his country would not let Ukraine “fail” against Russia. He said he hoped soon for a green light from Congress for American aid. “The United States supports Ukraine because it is the right thing to do and because America cares about freedom when it is threatened, but we also support Ukraine because it is crucial to our own security,” he said at a press conference.
Ukraine is impatiently awaiting American aid amounting to around 55 billion euros, which is still blocked in Congress due to the reluctance of Republican elected officials. The head of Ukrainian diplomacy affirmed that Ukraine was “shocked” by this persistent blockage.
Lloyd Austin, however, wanted to be confident: “I continue to see that both houses of Congress largely support action in favor of Ukraine and I am therefore optimistic about the possibility of future action.”
European countries alone cannot compensate for the lack of additional American aid. Germany, the leading European contributor to this military support, announced on Tuesday an additional envelope of 500 million euros.