UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband is expected to join a meeting of the European Union’s foreign ministers in Wicklow this week, where the Ukraine war will dominate the debate.
The Government is hosting the meeting in Druids Glen hotel as part of Ireland’s six-month role holding the rotating Council of the European Union presidency.
The meeting of EU foreign ministers, known as a “Gymnich”, will see governments take stock of Ukraine’s position, discuss future sanctions targeting Moscow and the volatile state of play in the Middle East.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha is due to travel to Ireland to attend the meeting, as one of several guests invited to join the EU discussion by the Government. The foreign ministers of Norway, Iceland and Switzerland have been invited.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Helen McEntee is hosting back-to-back meetings, first bringing together EU defence ministers on Tuesday in Druids Glen, followed by foreign ministers the next day.
Ministers are expected to debate how European allies can best support Ukraine as Kyiv faces a long, bruising winter. Russia is continuing an intensive bombing campaign targeting Ukrainian cities, overwhelming Ukraine’s stretched air defences and depleted reserves of interceptors that can shoot down incoming missiles.
The German government is planning to throw its weight behind a major package of economic sanctions hitting Russia, in response to a foiled drone attack in Leipzig airport.
A senior Nato official, deputy secretary general Radmila Shekerinska, will attend the defence ministers meeting.
The European Commission, the union’s powerful executive body, will soon begin drafting a new batch of EU sanctions, the 22nd round since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Officials in Brussels are weighing up whether to propose targeting exports of alumina to Russia in the fresh round of sanctions, a move that would hit Aughinish Alumina’s Co Limerick refinery.
Druids Glen was selected as the venue for the high-level EU meeting when Minister for Finance Simon Harris held the foreign affairs portfolio and intended to host the meeting in his Wicklow constituency.
It was too late to change the location when McEntee took over the role after Harris moved to the Department of Finance.
McEntee, a TD for Meath East, has arranged to put some local touches on the get-together in Wicklow. Food has been sourced from Meath suppliers for a dinner organised for foreign ministers on Tuesday evening. Each dinner table has been named after notable landmarks from the royal county, such as the Boyne Valley, Hill of Tara, Slane and Newgrange.
The Government made a decision several months ago to broaden invitations to the Wicklow meeting beyond the union’s 27 governments.
Miliband’s attendance will not be the first time a UK foreign secretary has sat in on such a meeting since Britain’s exit from the EU. His predecessor David Lammy joined an EU meeting in Luxembourg in October 2024 and then-foreign secretary Liz Truss travelled to one in Brussels a fortnight after Russia invaded Ukraine.