According to Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák, the new chief of EU diplomacy Federica Mogherini will face a number of challenges, with the most pressing being the Islamic State, Ebola, Ukraine and the redefinition of relations with Russia. Lajčák stated this in an interview given to TASR.
Relations with Russia have reached the lowest point since the end of the Cold War; moreover, Lajčák thinks that the two sides lack any contractual base for their relations. “We need this in order to put our communication into some format, to be able to set goals and evaluate whether or not we're meeting them - to set the rules of the game and to know whether or not we're violating them. At the moment, this doesn't exist.” Lajčák also stressed that the EU must not be a bloc allied with someone against someone else, but rather a defender of values and principles. “It's a mistake to see processes as black or white and to create our own favourites and antagonists because that's the point when we begin to lose an objective outlook,” he concluded.
