EU Foreign Affairs Council - 26 May 2025 - Main Results
Foreign Affairs Council
Foreign Affairs Council
(Development),26 May 2025
Main results
Financing for development
The Foreign Affairs (Development) Council; the first one for High Representative Kaja Kallas, held an exchange of views on financing for development ahead of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), scheduled for 30 June – 3 July 2025 in Seville, Spain.
Ministers called for a reform of the international financial architecture for development and underlined the pressing need to fully implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This conference will focus on new and emerging issues against a backdrop of a rapidly changing global environment, marked by rising geopolitical tensions and exacerbated by the US external aid cuts, which have put considerable strain on global development financing.
The EU is committed to remaining a reliable partner in international development, with a particular focus on ensuring that no one is left behind in the global pursuit of sustainable prosperity. The conclusions approved today reaffirm the EU's role in shaping a fairer, more inclusive global financial system.
The Council also held an exchange of views on the EU-Africa relations as a follow-up to the successful 3rd EU-African Union ministerial meeting which took place on 21 May 2025.
Ministers reflected on ways to strengthen the EU’s partnership with Africa and discussed about the need to identify concrete outcomes ahead of the 7th AU-EU Summit later this year, stressing the importance of increasing the visibility of EU investments in Africa, notably Global Gateway projects, exploring avenues for deeper alignment between Europeans and Africans in multilateral fora, and strengthening joint action on global issues.
Under current affairs, the Council also reviewed the recent developments regarding Ukraine and the Ukraine Plan, and talked about how to ensure a coordinated support from Team Europe.
High Representative Kallas underlined that humanitarian needs remain huge, including regarding housing and energy. April 2025 was one of the deadliest months for civilians since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
Member States and the Commission have provided a total of 4.2 billion EUR in humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 2022, of which the Commission has contributed 1.1 billion EUR. Over 155 000 tonnes of assistance have been shipped from UCPM logistics hubs to Ukraine.
External action post-2027
Ministers exchanged views on external action post-2027 during an informal lunch, focusing on various elements such as: ensuring that the EU remains a reliable and credible partner, striking the right balance between predictability and flexibility, making sure that the EU’s external action is consistent and serves its political priorities and strategic interests, and continued support to Ukraine.
Any other business
Under other business, ministers were debriefed on the results of the Nutrition for Growth summit, which took place in Paris on 27-28 March 2025, with the aim to coordinate actions towards ending malnutrition. Ministers were also informed about a letter brought forward by some of their colleagues on enhancing the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in implementing the Global Gateway strategy.
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