France to join Steering Committee of Special Tribunal on Russia's aggression – Barrot
France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, stated this during his speech at the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on April 20, Ukrinform's correspondent reports.
Barrot said that he had the honor to announce that France supported the creation of a Special Tribunal to address the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which would complement the International Criminal Court, and that France would join the Steering Committee of the Special Tribunal. He added that he hoped the committee would be finalized at a meeting of ministers in Chisinau on May 14–15.
The French foreign minister stressed that Russia's leadership had to be held accountable not only for war crimes but also for the planning and waging of what he described as an unjustified war of colonial aggression against Ukraine. He recalled that the Council of Europe had already taken steps toward accountability by establishing the Register of Damage for Ukraine in 2023.
He emphasized that compensation alone was not enough and that Russian leaders would have to answer for their actions, adding that there could be no peace without justice and no justice without truth.
In his speech, he also addressed the state of the rule of law across Europe, noting that force was gaining the upper hand over law, while human rights were under threat, and that democracy was increasingly being questioned. Against this backdrop, he described the Council of Europe as a bastion of resistance and emphasized that Europe's rearmament had to be accompanied by democratic rearmament, as strength without legal frameworks risked turning into tyranny.
As Ukrinform reported, France's agreement to join the Steering Committee of the Special Tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine will add additional political weight to the body, according to Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, Mykola Tochytskyi.
Photo: Council of Europe
