The Belgian leader had invited Mr Zelensky to a private meeting in his office at Wetstraat 16 ahead of the start of a special European summit called to discuss the fracturing relationship between the US and Europe and European plans to beef up defence.
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Prime Minister De Wever welcomes Ukraine’s President Zelensky to Brussels (VIDEO)
Colin Clapson
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European Union leaders meet today for a special summit on a new European defence policy and additional support for Ukraine. It’s an important summit as the United States appears to be pivoting towards Russia and is withdrawing support from Ukraine and Europe.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever shook hands with President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the summit.
Mr De Wever and Mr Zelensky already spoke on the phone at the end of February, when Belgium’s new leader took office. Mr Zelensky then immediately invited the Belgian prime minister to visit Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
PM De Wever: ‘Very positive conversation with Zelensky’
The conversation between Prime Minister Bart De Wever and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the PM’s office in Brussels this mornings was ‘very positive’, the prime minister said afterwards.
‘We confirmed to Zelensky that the new government continues to support Ukraine and will continue all the programmes in which we participate, and there are a lot of them.’
Several special European initiatives were launched in recent weeks to discuss the war in Ukraine and the changing stance of the United States. Belgium was not (always) invited. Prime Minister De Wever acknowledged that the Belgian government ‘still has a lot of homework’.
‘We are a small country and a poor pupil both in NATO and the EU. In the coming weeks, I will examine with the government how we can return to these fora as soon as possible with our heads held high.’