Russian aggression against Ukraine, the outlook for EU relations with Turkey and the economic security of foreign policy are the topics to be discussed at the Council of EU Foreign Ministers taking place in Brussels today.

The High Representative of the EU, Josep Borel coming to the Council said that Russia has not only withdrawn from the grain agreement, but for the third night in a row it is bombing the infrastructure in the port of Odessa, destroying more than 60,000 tons of grain. “This is a barbaric attitude,” which will cause “a huge food crisis in the world,” Z. Borel said. This issue will be discussed at the Council of EU Foreign Ministers, in the presence of their Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Kuleba.

At the same time, EU Foreign Ministers will discuss the need to continue supporting Ukraine with military means, for a long time, which means increasing the resources of the European Instrument for Peace, Borel said. “We will present a plan to ensure financial support for Ukraine in the coming years and I hope that the ministers will support it,” he added.

With reference to the discussion that will take place on Turkey, during the working lunch, Z. Borel is expected to inform the Council about the meeting he had with the Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan in Jakarta, on the sidelines of the Summit with the countries of East Asia. Coming to the Council, Z. Borel explained that Turkey would like to restart the accession process and put the European approach high on the agenda, and today the Foreign Ministers will have a first discussion about it. “We will discuss how we could revisit our relations with Turkey. It’s been a long time since we talked about this topic. Turkey has agreed to lift the veto on Sweden’s NATO membership and that is good news,” said the head of European diplomacy.

It is noted that in the afternoon, the Ministers will have an informal exchange of views via video conference with the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken. All issues are expected to be discussed in the teleconference.