“At today’s EU Council, I will ask for a detailed discussion on the issues regarding the evacuation of European nationals from Khartoum, Sudan. I already had a discussion with Josep Borrell yesterday and he accepted my request. Aside from that, I’d like to thank Josep Borrell for his enormous efforts, as well as the French, German, and Italian Foreign Ministers, Ms. Colonna, Ms. Baerbock, and, Mr. Antonio Tajani, for their assistance in evacuating Greek nationals from Khartoum.

However, I’d like to add something else. To say the least, it’s inconsistent to vote on texts such as the Strategic Compass and do so triumphantly, and then, despite the efforts of the High Representative, to be unable to organize a pan-European evacuation operation at European level. Europe is judged by its crisis-response capacity. As regards the Sudan crisis, I’d like to say that we, Europe haven’t received a very good grade.

Thank you.”