The European Union's top diplomat downplayed French and German foreign ministers' absence from a meeting in Brussels on Friday between representatives of the EU and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"Does it mean the European Union is presenting less interest this year than last year because Germany and France is not being represented at the level of the minister? Certainly not," Josep Borrell said in a press conference.
With the EU's political agenda dominated by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Borrell hoped the meeting would reassure ASEAN ministers that the EU is not becoming distracted from their region.
"The region can count on us as a reliable partner," he said in a written statement earlier this week.
EU member states were meant to be represented by foreign ministers, but some countries, including France and Germany, were represented by less senior officials.
When asked about the ministers' absence, Borrell told reporters he wasn't "blaming" France and Germany.
"The political agenda is so complicated that you can never foresee who will be able to attend or not," argued Borrell.
"They have to be in the parliament, they have to be in the ministries, [there have] been changes in government. The same thing happens in the Indo-Pacific countries, so don't look for strange explanations."
"I have to apologize to them for the fact that not all Spanish and not all European ministers are here," said Borrell, who previously served as Spain's foreign minister.
Borrell denied that their absence "represents any kind of different approach or willing[ness] to show any kind of feeling," he continued. "Life is life, people have agendas and not everybody can be everywhere at the same time."
In a written statement on Wednesday, Borrell said that while the EU remained "deeply concerned" about the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, it is "not forgetting the broader picture: the centre of gravity of the world’s economy has shifted to the Indo-Pacific region."
"Major tensions are rising, from the South China Sea, to the Taiwan Strait, the Korean peninsula and the Red Sea," he said in the statement. "We are at risk of going back to a world where 'might makes right'.”
