Eduardo González
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and his European Union counterparts expressed their support for the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine this Friday in the Ukrainian town of Lviv.
“I celebrate Europe Day in Ukraine with my European colleagues,” Albares wrote on social media. “We support Ukraine because it defends freedom, democracy, and peace,” he asserted. “Aggression cannot be rewarded. These crimes cannot go unpunished. The future and dignity of Europe is also decided in Ukraine,” he concluded.
The foreign ministers of more than 30 European countries met this Friday in Ukraine to show their political support for the creation of the Special Tribunal, as Albares himself had announced the day before in Warsaw, after attending the informal meeting of foreign ministers organized by the Polish Presidency under the Gymnich format.
The tribunal will be based in The Hague and will have the backing of the Council of Europe. For this reason, negotiations for its implementation will now move to the Council of Europe, where its legal framework will be defined and its implementation debated. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, has already confirmed his political support for the tribunal and has asked European countries to guarantee its funding so that it does not remain merely a good intention.
“The fact that we are giving our support today to the special tribunal to prosecute crimes of aggression is especially important; it is a message of hope to the Ukrainian people, but it is also a message to all those who are considering waging wars of aggression,” Albares told Efe news agency in Lviv.
The presence of the European ministers coincides precisely with the holding in Russia of the military parade commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, which was attended by several foreign leaders, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. “The place to be today, on a day like today, is here, in Ukraine, where we believe in, defend, and live by the democratic values of the European Union, the values of freedom, justice, and progress,” Albares declared regarding the presence of foreign leaders in Moscow.
Zelensky, Kallas, Lamy
During the meeting in Lviv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of the need to judge Russia in the same way the Nazis were once judged because “if one war goes unpunished, more will come.” Therefore, he expressed his hope that the Special Tribunal will deter future aggressors. “Anyone will think twice,” he added.
For her part, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, stated in Lviv that the creation of the Special Tribunal is “a very important signal” because “it means that no one can go unpunished for the crimes committed, not even the leaders who have decided to send all these soldiers here to commit war crimes and all these atrocities.”
“All countries that defend the values and all the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter should also join this Special Tribunal, because if there is no accountability, this can happen again,” she warned.
In this regard, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy stated this Friday from Lviv that at least 37 countries have already expressed their support for the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
Bilateral meeting with Wadephul
Furthermore, Albares took advantage of the trip to Ukraine to hold an “excellent first meeting” with his new German colleague, Johann Wadephul. “Spain and Germany, together, are building a Europe that defends democracy, freedom, and peace,” the minister wrote on social media. “Spanish-German friendship is essential to moving the EU forward,” he concluded.
