The Informal meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers (Gymnich) took place within the framework of the Greek Presidency of the Council of the EU at the Zappeion Megaron, in Athens on April 4 - 5.

At the close of the two–day meeting, EU High Representative and Vice President of the European Commission, Catherine Ashton and Greek Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Evangelos Venizelos held a joint press conference.

With regard to the situation in Ukraine, Ashton underlined the importance of trying to persuade Russia to de-escalate the situation and to, as ever, work closely with Ukraine to try to find a way out of the crisis.

On his part, Venizelos stressed that "Sanctions are not an end in themselves. Sanctions are a tool, an instrument that we use, always in the framework of international law. And the purpose of those sanctions is to ensure that international law is respected."

On the issue of the YouTube and the Twitter ban in Turkey, Ashton said that "Constitutional Court’s decision and we also made it clear that social media play an incredibly important part in the life of all communities, including Turkey, and our Turkish colleague talked to us about the reforms that they are expecting to see coming forward. (…)"