High Representative Federica Mogherini gathered EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday for the monthly Foreign Affairs Council: recent events in Turkey and the tragic attack in Nice featured high on the agenda of the meeting.

In the first part of the morning John Kerry became the first US Secretary of State to ever join the meeting, highlighting the crucial role of EU-US cooperation in addressing international terrorism and regional instability.

Counter-terrorism was an important part of the meeting with Secretary Kerry, with a strong focus on EU-US cooperation. The work on counter-terrorism will continue later this week in Washington D.C., at the Global Coalition Against Da’esh meeting which will be hosted by the United States. Today’s exchange in Brussels was also an opportunity for Secretary Kerry to update EU ministers on his recent talks in Russia on Syria and the Middle East.

Turkey was one of the main topics on the agenda both at the breakfast with Secretary Kerry and at the following plenary at 28. The High Representative stressed that EU leaders and herself immediately condemned the attempted coup d’état of the 15 of July and demanded to respect the democratic institutions of Turkey. “At the same time – she added – we call for the full observance of the Turkish constitutional order. We shared consensus on what is happening in the country in these hours. We need to have Turkey respecting democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the High Representative said. Answering to questions from the media, Mogherini also clarified that “no country can become an EU Member State if it introduces the death penalty.”

At the beginning of the plenary session at 28, the High Representative and the ministers paid tribute to the victims of the attack in Nice together with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, with a minute of silence. EU member states confirmed their strong commitment to support France.

EU Ministers touched upon Venezuela and had a first exchange of views with the High Representative on the follow-up of the Global Strategy presented by Mogherini the European Council at the end of June. Mogherini also updated the colleagues on last week’s EU-China summit in Beijing and the Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) in Mongolia. The Council adopted the first EU-China Strategy in 10 years.

After the Foreign affairs council, The High Representative and all the ministers held the 25th European Union – Gulf Cooperation Council Joint Council and Ministerial Meeting. They had a deep exchange on counter-terrorism, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and Middle East peace process.

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