Petritsch: Stubb’s proposal for an EU envoy for Ukraine is interesting, it would be a good approach

The proposal by Finnish President Alexander Stubb that Europe should have a special envoy for the Ukraine crisis, similar to how Martti Ahtisaari was for Kosovo, is an interesting one, former EU Special Envoy for Kosovo, Wolfgang Petritsch, says, agreeing that it would be a good approach.

“That is an interesting proposal. With Ahtisaari, even though Belgrade did not accept everything from the beginning, there was an attempt to find a fair compromise. No one is ever fully satisfied. I think this would be a good approach. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, I have been saying that the EU should appoint a strong political figure to work on establishing peace and addressing human rights violations in Ukraine,” Petritsch told Kosovo Online.

He points out that dialogue with Moscow must be attempted because diplomacy's task is to engage with all parties responsible for the problem, including Russia and Vladimir Putin.

“The EU has not handled this well. Perhaps Stubb will be able to assert himself, and maybe someone will be appointed to dedicate themselves to this task,” Petritsch stated.

He believes that seeking a solution for Ukraine without Ukrainians would not be a good approach.

Petritsch recently organized a conference on Afghanistan in Vienna and, as an example, pointed out that the country faces issues due to a flawed peace agreement that was unilaterally reached only with the Taliban.

“That would be like negotiating only with the KLA in Kosovo. That is not possible. All legitimate political representatives must be included. The same applies to Ukraine, Kyiv must be involved because this is about Ukraine,” Petritsch concluded.