Although EU foreign ministers meeting in Toledo on Thursday agreed with implementing sanctions against Niger — one of the world’s poorest countries — they did not agree to support an ECOWAS military mission to reinstate the deposed president, Reuters reports.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the sanctions would be like those of ECOWAS and claimed that they would include humanitarian exemptions and were not targeting the people of the country.
Regarding requests from ECOWAS for military support, the EU leaders demurred. Borrell said careful study would have to be made of any proposal. Italian Foreign Minister Tajani went further, saying that a military “solution” would be a “disaster.” He told reporters: “We need to work day by day for a diplomatic solution.”
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna did not speak to reporters before or after the gathering.