The French Foreign Ministry welcomed the progress made at the meeting of the contact group on the Donbass in Minsk on Tuesday, and emphasized that the conditions for holding a meeting in the “Norman format” at the level of heads of state and government in Paris are currently ripe.
“France welcomes this progress, which was facilitated by the intensive negotiations held in recent weeks within the framework of the so-called Norman format between France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia. Currently, there are conditions for holding a meeting of the heads of states and governments in Paris in the Norman format to achieve progress on the path to a lasting settlement of the conflict in Ukraine”, – said the representative of the French Foreign Ministry.
A contact group on the Donbass on Tuesday at a meeting in Minsk agreed on the “Steinmeier formula” – on behalf of the German president, former OSCE chairman, ex-Foreign Minister of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier. It determines the mechanism for enacting the law on a special procedure for local self-government in certain regions of Donetsk and Lugansk regions on a temporary basis on election day and on an ongoing basis after the publication of an OSCE report on the election results.