Suggestions that the Ukrainian leadership should cede parts of its country's territory in order to achieve peace are very dangerous for the whole world and for international relations. This was stated by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković at the meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Budapest yesterday, HINA agency reports, quoted by BTA.
„If the logic behind these proposals is that this will end the conflict, and we accept the violation of international law, the killing of hundreds of thousands of people and the destruction of a major European country, then this sets a dangerous precedent that could be detrimental to international relations”, Plenkovic said at the meeting in Budapest, which focused on Russia's war against Ukraine and challenges to European security.
„If we take that approach, where will it end? In practice, we will end the conflict and Russian aggression by favoring the aggressor”, the Croatian Prime Minister warned, asking what the situation in Croatia would look like if in the 1990s, during the war of independence, the country had to give up from parts of its territory. “If we had been told to give up a quarter or a third of the territory, where would we be today?“ he asked.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also expressed the opinion that it is more important to establish peace than to decide who wins. “My main message is that we need to start talks on a truce, not about who will win, but how peace will be achieved that will benefit the whole world and Europe,” Vucic said before the EPO meeting, quoted by HINA .
Plenkovic emphasized that everyone wants peace, but we cannot accept any kind of peace that would reject everything we are fighting for. He recalled that in 1994 was in Budapest when Ukraine signed a memorandum by which it gave up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for guarantees from the permanent members of the UN Security Council for its territorial integrity and security.
Plenkovic and Vucic participated in the fifth meeting of the European Political Community in Budapest, organized at the initiative of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. The purpose of the meeting was to promote dialogue and achieve common goals between European countries and other countries on the continent and beyond. Nearly 50 heads of state and government from EU member states and other European countries took part in the event.