What Andrius spoke about.

14

Dec

2022

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Upscaling the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (debate)

Madam President, colleagues. I would like to say a few words about the major message of the report. And that message is very simple: we are living in a time of war, but not with our finances, since the MFF was planned and approved for permanent peace. We need to understand that this war is also our war, and it demands from us mobilisation of all of our resources. In order to win the war, you need to have in order your army and also your finances. You need to have sufficient war finances. We need to finance arms deliveries to Ukraine, the budgetary needs of Ukraine, the reconstruction of Ukraine, the accession of Ukraine and other new candidate countries towards the EU. The report’s main message is clear: the MFF’s structure and size is not able to meet the needs of the war and also the needs of other big crises, urgencies. Why is this so? The report speaks very clearly, I quote, ‘Parliament regrets the gradual decrease of the EU budget as a percentage of EU gross national income and the excessive focus on capping overall spending at roughly 1% of EU GNI’. This is a most important message. We cannot stay with 1% because at the end it will bring the whole EU into very painful crisis of its own finances. We need to avoid it. This crisis of the war is a good occasion for us to strengthen ourselves from a geo-political point of view and also radically strengthen our finances. This is the only way we can make the EU strong again.

23

Nov

2022

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Amending Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027 - Amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 as regards the establishment of a diversified funding strategy as a general borrowing method - 'Macro-Financial Assistance+' instrument for providing support to Ukraine for 2023 (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, we in the European Union need to understand we also are at the war, that is why we need to move from ad hoc decisions to systemic decisions. You cannot win the war without weapons and without war finances, properly and systemically established. We are still not able to deliver finances what we promised at the beginning of this year and that is shameful for the European Union. In the EU we cannot finance war finance from the regular normal multiannual budget. We need special arrangements, including on EUR 18 billion for 2023. Today it is important for to push for, first of all, a significant first disbursement in January. Second, to fix EUR 18 billion as our clear promise, not just ‘up to EUR 18 billion’. Third, we need to ask the Commission to coordinate with international partners to cover the rest, as fiscal deficit of Ukraine for 2023 is 38 billion. And the last point, on reconstruction, the EU has to establish its own resource similar to Next Generation 2.0 for Ukraine and to push for Russian assets confiscation to cover the increasing needs for Ukraine’s recovery, which are approaching one trillion euros.

22

Nov

2022

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New EU strategy for enlargement (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, we have a good report on the significance of enlargement. The report is very clear in its most important message. Enlargement is the most effective EU foreign policy instrument, and enlargement should be brought back to an ambitious and dynamic track like it was with enlargement towards Central Europe. The later so-called enlargement fatigue, especially to Eastern Partnership region, was a big mistake, and one of the reasons why Putin decided that he can start a war against Ukraine. It’s good that the EU leadership started to learn the lessons from the mistakes of the past. Josep Borrell recently in this House openly recognised that until the war the EU had no proper policy towards Ukraine because that policy was subordinated to the policy towards Russia, and policy towards Russia was absent because the EU was very heavily dependent on Russian gas. Now this dependency is gone. It’s good that recently we have heard ambitious statements about enlargement towards Ukraine, Moldova and Western Balkans, made by Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell and Olaf Scholz. It would be even better if such ambition would be demonstrated also by EU institutions and by Member States. I do not understand the reasons why the EU could not start negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova in the middle of next year. Let us bring back the hope to our neighbours that the EU was able to wake up from its geopolitical laziness and I am absolutely sure that those neighbours will deliver major reforms of their countries. That is how enlargement can bring peace and prosperity for the whole European continent.

19

Oct

2022

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 20-21 October 2022 (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, I hope that the Council and Commission will find proper solutions for this energy crisis and also will understand what kind of our mistakes and dependencies in the past led to it. I will speak about geopolitical crisis of war, which Europe is also facing. Two weeks ago Josep Borrell in our plenary openly and bravely admitted, that till now the EU had no Russia strategy, because EU was too dependent on Russian gas. And it had no foreign policy towards Ukraine, because it was a subsidiary to our policy on Russia. Because of that, there was no EU enlargement policy towards Ukraine, and that was the EU’s strategic mistake which led to a geopolitical crisis. Now we are less dependent on Russian gas, and Ukraine and Moldova got candidate status. But do we have an ambitious enlargement strategy? I have doubts. Because I do not see, that the EU would be ready to start membership negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova in 2023, which again means that our strategy towards Ukraine can be captured by prevailing bureaucratic attitude towards enlargement. There is still time for the Council and Commission to stop continuation of such a strategic mistake.

18

Oct

2022

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Impact of Russian invasion of Ukraine on migration flows to the EU (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, Russia as a terrorist country was and is weaponising immigration. Since last year, Russia started to weaponise on illegal immigration through Belarus of people from Africa and Middle East into Lithuania, Poland, Latvia. With the beginning of the brutal and criminal war against Ukraine, Russia was hoping that millions of war refugees from Ukraine will not be accepted in EU countries and chaos will prevail. Putin failed. Europeans showed their solidarity. With the recent mass bombings of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine before the winter, Putin expects that new millions of Ukrainians will be forced to leave their country. With the recent mass military mobilisation in Russia, the Kremlin created a new mass flow of migrants from Russia itself. In hundreds of thousands, they are going to Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia. Russians do not want to live in their terrorist country. That is an essence of today’s Russia, and that is the tragedy of Russia. What should be our policy response? We need to keep our eastern borders under strict control vis-à-vis Putin’s or Lukashenko’s manipulated migrants from Africa and the Middle East. Second, we need to declare that we shall accept all the Ukrainians who will be forced to leave the country because of the Putin’s war. Third, we need to financially help Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, which accept massive flows of Russian refugees. With proper security precautions and according to our legislation on asylum, we need to be ready to accept those Russians who will become deserters from the real Russian armed forces. Terrorist states will fail, whatever weapons, including weaponisation of migration, they will try to use against us.

5

Oct

2022

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Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, first of all, of course, congratulations to the victorious Ukrainians. It is clear that the end of the war depends only on how much weapons the West delivers to Ukraine. In some way it’s a shame for the EU that the United States delivered EUR 25 billion value of weapons and the whole European Union support, together with all the Member States, is only less than EUR 6 billion. The same is true with financial aid. The European Union is heavily behind the United States’ assistance. It’s not enough, our solidarity statements. Real EU money is needed. Sanctions are working. But the most special next sanction on Putin would be the immediate creation of a special tribunal on crimes of aggression, which would target directly Putin. Ukrainian military performance is above all the NATO standards. Not Ukraine should ask for NATO membership, but NATO should ask Ukraine to join, because Ukraine is implementing NATO mission to stop Russia’s imperial expansion to the West. We can help Russians to bury their imperial dreams with immediate Ukraine NATO membership and negotiations on EU membership starting early next year. We shall show to Russia that Ukraine is gone from an imperial grey zone.

14

Sep

2022

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Human rights violations in the context of forced deportation of Ukrainian civilians to and forced adoption of Ukrainian children in Russia

Madam President, dear colleagues, there is no need to repeat that forced deportations of Ukrainians and their children to Russia, to faraway Siberian regions – that this is a huge crime against humanity, and this is a war crime of genocide. There is no difference in between of crimes of deportations to Gulag camps during Stalin’s time and deportations done now during Putin’s time. We need to speak in a very clear way: Putin’s crimes of deportations, also other war crimes, were born out of the first and major crime of Putin – crime of war aggression. And that is why we need to immediately address the major issue: the creation of Special International Tribunal on Crime of War Aggression. It is the only instrument to target directly the crimes personally of Mr Putin; it’s also to show both to Putin and to his elite that there will be no way to come back to business as usual in between of the West and criminal Putin regime, even after the war. It’s good that the resolution speaks about such a special tribunal. It would be good if big capitals would also support the creation of such a tribunal. It would be a clear evidence that nobody wants to go to business as usual with a criminal.

13

Sep

2022

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EU response to the increase in energy prices in Europe (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, it is very clear that we are facing both short-term and longer-term challenges. There is a need of quick strategic decisions for this winter, showing to Putin that he will not win with his strategy against the European Union. We did not allow the pandemic to kill our economies, and we shall not allow Putin’s energy crisis to kill our economies again. But with short-term measures, we should also need to avoid killing energy market of European Union because there are a lot of examples. For example, when electricity is generated in one country and consumers are another in another country. There is also a need for longer-term solutions which we need to declare now. First, we need to declare that we shall not come back to ‘business as usual’ and we shall not buy any more Putin’s gas, even one after Ukrainians will win the war. And second, we should declare that we are ready to speed up implementation of Green Deal and get rid not only of Russian gas, but in general to get rid of gas and oil consumption.

13

Sep

2022

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The situation in the Strait of Taiwan (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues. We are witnessing how China is becoming more authoritarian and more aggressive. And that is the same development which we saw in Russia during the last 20 years. It started from violations of human rights and it ended with an invasion of Ukraine. Stability and status quo are very important, but we cannot keep status quo in our position when China is dramatically changing its policy. China abandoned its one—China two—systems policy towards Hong Kong. China is implementing genocide against Uyghurs. They are increasing military threats against Iran. Now China thinks that they have the right to decide who can visit Taiwan. And they think that China has a right to punish, because of that, other countries. Or to punish Taiwan If your Speaker of Congress is visiting Taiwan. It’s time to say to China that they have no such right. And the best answer would be the visit of the European Parliament Speaker to Taiwan. Even better would be a visit together with Mr Vice—President.

13

Sep

2022

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Question Time (VPC/HR) The state of play of the war in Ukraine

A very short comment or additional question. We congratulate that the Commission really found a way to allocate 9 billion. The question is about next year. Up to 70 billion to finance the daily business of the Ukrainian Government, paying salaries to teachers, paying salaries to medical doctors – that will be needed. So my question is, and suggestion really, to the Commission to come out with a much more clear long-term plan of how to finance the Ukrainian State during this very difficult times and how really to win this war not only with weapons, but also with clear financial assistance for Ukraine.

13

Sep

2022

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Question Time (VPC/HR) The state of play of the war in Ukraine

Mr President, really, first of all, we can be quite happy with the recent developments on the military front in Ukraine. We can congratulate the Ukrainian soldiers on leadership and, of course, they’re doing such a great job because the West is providing weapons. But my questions would be about the future and not about the military future. Really things in Ukraine are very much damaged by Russian occupants and so on. The economy is now in a bad shape. We know from IMF evaluations that each month Ukraine needs around 5 to 7 billion in external financial assistance. And my question would be for next year, what the Commission is planning, because it means that for next year we need to have around 70 billion in our external assistance for Ukraine.

22

Jun

2022

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 23-24 June 2022, including the meeting with Western Balkan leaders on 23 June - Candidate status of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, first of all, I would like to congratulate the courage of the Ukrainian people. Their heroism opens the doors for the historical decisions of European Union to give candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova. But today, after authoritarian Russia started criminal war against democratic Ukraine, we need to say even more. First, enlargement policy is the most important geopolitical policy of the EU, because this is the only way to expand the area of democracy, stability and prosperity. And this is the only way that long-term peace can be established on the whole continent. Second, we need to understand that EU enlargement is needed not only for Ukraine, Moldova or Western Balkans; it’s very much needed also for the whole EU, because enlargement makes the EU stronger, not weaker. That is why we, on the European side, not only Ukrainians, need to be ambitious and courageous. For the last decades, we in the EU, we were living with the philosophy of ‘geopolitical laziness’. Now the war demands from us to come back to the philosophy of ‘geopolitical courage and enlargement’. Let’s do it.

8

Jun

2022

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Violations of media freedom and safety of journalists in Georgia

Madam President, dear colleagues, today we are discussing our concerns about media freedom in Georgia. Why we are discussing this issue is a lot of concern, because we are absolutely sure that the Georgian people deserve to be part of the European family. We want the Georgian people to be members of our Union. But in order to become a member of the EU, it is not enough just to have people wish to join the EU. The country needs to meet the membership criteria: democracy, the rule of law and media freedom criteria. And that depends, first of all, on the policy of the ruling party and the leadership of the country. And that is where our concerns come. Media freedom is becoming a victim of the deliberate policy of the Georgian formal and shadow leadership to politicise justice in Georgia. It is totally unacceptable. That is what this resolution is saying in a very clear way. It is not the first time when post-communist countries are facing a similar situation. In 1997, Slovakia was not invited to start negotiations because Slovakia’s then populist Prime Minister, Vladimír Mečiar, was destroying democracy and media freedom values. The Slovakian people resolved that problem and voted out the Mečiar Government. I would urge Georgian Government not to repeat the mistakes of Vladimír Mečiar.

8

Jun

2022

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Conclusions of the special European Council meeting of 30-31 May 2022 (debate)

Mr President, the Council made important decisions, but still there is a lot to be done in order for us to come out from this geopolitical crisis becoming stronger. In order to do that, first of all we need to look back and to name our mistakes of the last decades, which allowed this geopolitical crisis to happen. I see two major mistakes: first, for too long we were considering that dialogue with Putin is more important than democracy in Russia. That is how we allowed the Kremlin to become a new fascist regime. And second, for too long we were keeping Ukraine in a geopolitical grey zone, not giving it a clear membership perspective, and because of that Putin decided that Ukraine is his territory. We need to learn our lessons. We need to give Ukraine candidate status immediately. And also, we cannot be effective during the war with the individual veto right of Member States, which simply creates conditions for a blackmail culture to spread. We are at the war. Not just Ukraine. And I would like to see that this war will make all of us much stronger.

19

May

2022

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The fight against impunity for war crimes in Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, it is important that the resolution defines the establishment of a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression committed by Putin. The establishment of such a tribunal will serve not only international justice, but also will have a major political impact on how the war will proceed further. It will be a very clear signal that the community of democracies has a political will to go for the full defeat of Putin in his war against Ukraine. The West will not be able to push Ukraine for beneficial—to—the—Kremlin ceasefire agreements, and plan to return to ‘business as usual’ with a person whose crimes of aggression are investigated by a special tribunal. The establishment of such a tribunal to investigate Putin’s personal criminal responsibility will put an end also to the phone calls by some Western leaders to Putin, and will stop concerns about ‘humiliation’ of Putin. The international tribunal will take care about the ‘face saving’ of Mr Putin. That will be the biggest political benefit from this initiative: the political West will be pushed to be united for the same goal – to defeat Putin’s fascism. Let’s remember, collaboration with international criminals is an international crime also.

18

May

2022

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Prosecution of the opposition and the detention of trade union leaders in Belarus (debate)

Madam President, dear Commissioner, dear colleagues, it’s very clear that the continued persecution of opposition and trade union leaders in Belarus is a heavy crime committed by the illegal Lukashenko regime. Today we are standing together with all the persecuted fighters for a democratic Belarus and with the legitimate leader of democratic Belarus, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. We should not be naive: our appeals to the Lukashenko regime to release imprisoned fighters for democracy will not be answered. That is why we cannot stay only with resolutions, which have been repeating such language for several years. Belarus is not a far away country somewhere in Africa, with some human rights problems. Belarus happens to be next door to us , in the geographical centre of the European continent. We need to understand our own responsibility, we need to look into what kind of mistakes we have made that allowed those atrocities and that military aggression to happen in the centre of Europe, in our vicinity. Today we need to learn one very clear lesson: if in our region we are not able to stop an authoritarian regime in its violations of human rights from the very beginning, then at some time later those regimes will become new fascist regimes and international criminal aggressors. That is why we now need to understand a very simple truth. The situation in Belarus will be radically changed for the better if Putin and Lukashenko are defeated in Ukraine and if Ukraine will get candidate status. Ukraine’s success is key for the future of democracy in Belarus and also in Russia. That is why we need to support Ukraine and together with them to win the war in Ukraine. Let’s learn our lessons!

5

May

2022

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State of play of the EU-Moldova cooperation (debate)

Mr President, we all know what Moldova has faced during the last 40 years: occupation of part of the territory by the Kremlin, money laundering and Kremlin-loyal political parties in government and things like that. Now we have a totally different picture. We have a pro-European president and a pro-European government, and we have Kremlin threats to Moldovan sovereignty. We know what this means. All of the European continent, including Ukraine, Moldova and ourselves, we are facing a huge political crisis created by the Kremlin invasion of Ukraine and threats to Moldova and others. We need to learn a lesson – part of the responsibility for this crisis is also on our shoulders. The EU was too slow and too weak in the realisation of its strategic responsibility to bring stability and development to its neighbourhood, either in the Western Balkans or in Ukraine and Moldova. Let’s imagine a different picture now – one in which Moldova is a member of the EU. It’s very clear that it would be beneficial not only for Moldova, it would be beneficial for EU stability in its neighbourhood, it would be beneficial even for Russia, since it would have much less of a wrong temptation to restore its empire. So let’s make a strategic conclusion from the lessons of this geopolitical crisis. Moldova membership in the European Union is needed not only for Moldova; it’s very much needed also for the European Union itself. And it’s very much needed for the perspective of a different Russia. Together with the Moldovan people, we have a possibility to create a different future for the whole European continent. Candidate status for Moldova and negotiations for membership – it’s our obligation to the Moldovan people and to the European people.

4

May

2022

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The social and economic consequences for the EU of the Russian war in Ukraine - reinforcing the EU’s capacity to act (debate)

Mr President, I would like first of all to congratulate and to thank the Commission President for this statement about sanctions and about Ukraine’s reconstruction package. It is our war, and we need to take care, first of all, of the biggest needs – and this is Ukraine. We shall have problems also, but our economies will not go down by 50%. It is obvious that reconstruction after the war will demand a big amount of our money – hundreds of billions or even a trillion euros. However, it will also open up new opportunities, for both Ukraine and for the EU itself, for modernisation. Investments on such a scale will create new jobs. We successfully invested a trillion euros in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it’s time to invest a trillion euros into the fight against the Kremlin’s fascism pandemic, for arms deliveries, for reconstruction, and for the mitigation of the consequences of the war on our side. We know how to do it. Also, let us create a special fund for reconstruction of Ukraine until the end of June, when decisions on its candidate status will be made. Ukrainian victory is the only way for all of us to live in peace on the European continent. There is no way for a cheap peace.

3

May

2022

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The follow up of the Conference on the Future of Europe (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, the European continent is hit by a huge geopolitical and security crisis – Russia’s war against Ukraine. Such kind of a crisis is showing that we, unfortunately, have been weak in our capacities in foreign and security policy to avoid such kind of crises. ‘Europe will be forged in crises,’ said Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, ‘and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises.’ We need new solutions now. It’s good that we have had broad consultations with the citizens of EU. It gave several important recommendations for the common and security policy to be improved. But we need to remember that the EU was created and reformed by intellectual and political leaders of the Union. Let’s not forget about this side of leadership: Robert Shuman, Jean Monnet, Konrad Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi and others were the leaders, who created and who were changing the Union. We have responsibility of our generation – the EU needs to adapt itself to the changes and challenges of such kind of a crisis. That requires leadership from us. We need to rise to the demand of the citizens, which was expressed very clearly: qualified majority voting, new security capabilities, and strategic responsibility for the neighbourhood. That is what citizens are demanding from us. The EU needs to change itself, and Treaty change is an instrument for such a change. And let’s not be afraid of change. As the prominent Irish-British conservative philosopher and politician Edmund Burke said: ‘a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.’ If we want to secure and conserve the state of the European Union, we need to go for change. That is what citizens are asking us to do.

6

Apr

2022

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Increasing repression in Russia, including the case of Alexey Navalny

and there are also terrible pictures from Bucha. We should not forget that the road to this terrible war started in 2000, when Putin replaced Yeltsin and began to destroy Russian democracy. Now we see that autocratic Russia without democracy is the biggest threat to European security. Navalny in Putin’s prison and the terrible Bucha pictures are very strongly interconnected in between them. Long—term peace in Europe is possible, not only if Putin loses his criminal war against Ukraine, but also if the Russian people transform their country back to democracy. That is why we support those fighting for democracy in Russia, for Navalny, and for those who were forced to leave Russia, and we support the long—term peace perspective on the European continent. This is what this resolution is about. The future of Russian democracy is a crucial strategic issue for European security. That is why we need not only to express our solidarity with Navalny, but also we need to have a clear strategy of how we are assisting the case of democracy, for which Navalny is fighting, and of how we are supporting those fighters who were forced to run away from Russia. Let’s help the Russian people to build a better Russia of the future.

6

Apr

2022

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Cooperation and similarities between the Putin regime and extreme right and separatist movements in Europe (topical debate)

Madam President, as you have seen recently from the picutres of Bucha – terrible pictures – the Putin regime is a real neo—Nazi, neo—fascist and neo—totalitarian regime. Putin hates democracy because democracy is a mortal threat to his dictatorial regime. That is why Putin is so afraid of democracy. That is why he is so afraid of domestic fighters for democracy like Navalny or democracies in the neighbourhood like Ukraine. Putin would like to weaken or destroy European democracies based on common European values. That is why he finds some friends in European countries because authoritarian populism is attractive for some political parties and leaders in Europe. But the friendship of European politicians with the neo—Nazi regime in the Kremlin is exactly what emboldens Putin to become more dictatorial. The Putin regime shows very clearly that, if such a regime is not stopped by the international community at the very beginning of its authoritarian path, then it turns into an international criminal aggressor. The old European friends of that regime are in some way responsible for Putin’s aggression of today and they are accomplices of those horrible crimes in Bucha and elsewhere in Ukraine. In the end we need to understand that there will be no peace and stability on the European continent if Russia does not transform itself back to democracy. An undemocratic Russia was, is and will stay the biggest threat to European security. Those in Europe who were, or are still, cooperating with the autocratic Putin regime or who are trying to imitate his ideology in France, in Germany, in Hungary or in my Lithuania, are not just useful idiots for Putin, but they are also enemies of peace in Europe.

23

Mar

2022

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Debriefing of the European Council meeting in Paris on 10 March 2022 - Preparation of the European Council meeting 24-25 March 2022 (debate)

Madam President, it’s our war too. This war is fought not only in Ukraine; the fight is also going on in EU capitals. The only real way to end the war now is to introduce the maximum sanctions on Russia now – an embargo on oil and gas, an embargo on ports, and SWIFT sanctions on all Russian banks, and doing so in such a way as to push Putin to capitulate and withdraw. Unfortunately, there are capitals in the EU who are opposing the introduction of those maximum sanctions, including an embargo on energy imports, without clear arguments and clear numbers. European people have a very clear opinion. They demand that we show maximum support to Ukraine, alongside maximum sanctions. Yesterday here in the Parliament, we created a global network of parliamentarians: United for Ukraine. That is the title of this network. As a beginning, there are 160 parliamentarians from 28 countries, but there will be much more. The network will do its utmost to convince national leaders, Members of the European Council, to listen to their voters and to stop financing Putin’s war. Either we’re on the side of Ukraine and European citizens, or we continue to finance Putin’s war. It is a simple black—and—white choice, which we need to make now.

8

Mar

2022

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The deterioration of the situation of refugees as a consequence of the Russian aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, unlike with the previous refugee crisis, we now have war on the European continent and Europeans from Ukraine are moving into other European countries for shelter. We have a simple European moral obligation to take care of all of them, our fellow Europeans. I would like to praise the Commission, the national governments, NGOs and individual citizens, especially in Central Europe, who are doing a lot to help those who are running away from Putin’s brutal war. But our obligation to the citizens of Ukraine and also to those who are looking for safe shelter in our countries is a bigger one. Our obligation is to stop the war. We cannot speak about solidarity with Ukrainians or refugees if we are not implementing a full embargo on the import of energy resources from Russia. Each day, we’re paying EUR 600 million into Putin’s pocket. It covers the purchase of four hundred new Russian tanks per day. During all the days of war so far Ukrainians have managed to destroy fewer Russian tanks than we are buying for Putin in one day. We need to declare that our sanctions on the Russian economy will stay in place until the last Russian soldier leaves Ukrainian territory, not only Kherson or Chernobyl, but also Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. Putin and those surrounding him in the Kremlin need to understand that they will lose this war and there will be much less suffering, not only in Ukraine, but also in Russia itself, if Putin stops his criminal war immediately and then we shall rebuild Ukraine. The refugees need to have hope and we need to deliver it, all of us are Ukrainians now and Europeans, Slava Ukraini!

1

Mar

2022

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Russian aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, dear brothers and sisters in Ukraine, dear colleagues, first of all I would like to praise the heroism of Ukrainian people. I would like to praise heroism of Ukrainian soldiers and the heroic leadership of President Vladimir Zelenskyy. Ukrainians are facing and defending themselves against the war launched by a real new Nazi regime in the Kremlin. Putin is a real war criminal. Ukrainians are suffering because we, in the West, till now were too weak to stop Putin’s crimes from the very beginning. Ukrainians with their blood are fighting for their right to reunite with Europe. They are more Europeans than many of us. That is why we need to give them candidate status immediately and then we need to design special fast procedure for Ukraine to join us. There is an example of such a special procedure, when in 1990 East Germany integrated into the European Union and it took less than a year. So, let’s establish a special procedure also for Ukraine’s swift reunification with Europe. After the EU started to deliver weapons to Ukraine, when SWIFT and other banking sanctions were introduced, we need the next steps. First of all, we need to stop imports of Russian oil and gas immediately. Each day we are paying to Putin for 100 new T-72 tanks. Twice more than Ukrainians are able to destroy during one day on the battle field. Second, let’s create a multi-billion ‘Free Ukraine fund’ to support the resilience, reconstruction and modernisation of the Ukrainian economy. Let’s finance it in the same way as we financed the Next Generation EU Fund, with the EU borrowing in the market. Thanks, Josep Borrell, for a good idea. Third, let’s introduce full-scale SWIFT and other sanctions also against criminal Lukashenko and his banks. And the last point, a stable peace on the European continent will be possible only if the ‘de-Putinisation’ of Russia will happen. With the help of Ukrainian victories on the battlefields, with our sanctions and with the help of ordinary Russians protesting on the streets, the de-Putinisation of Russia is coming closer and closer. Mr Putin, you lost this criminal war. The International Tribunal in the Hague is waiting for you. For justice to be served. Justice first of all to Ukrainians. (The speaker concluded his speech in Ukrainian)

16

Feb

2022

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EU-Russia relations, European security and Russia’s military threat against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, today we need to understand that Russia under Putin is a declining post-imperial power. Russia under Putin is a desperate new ‘sick man of Europe’. Internally Putin is afraid of Navalny, externally, he’s afraid of the example of success of a democratic Ukraine. Authoritarian Russia under Putin is the biggest threat to security on our continent. Putin will not change himself. Threats to Ukraine will continue during the years to come, because this is the way the Kremlin aims to weaken the Ukrainian economy. Future of democracy in Russia, not a dialogue with autocratic Putin, is a long-term goal for a new security architecture in Europe. Strong and able to defend itself, Ukraine will deter Kremlin aggression, since only the weakness of its opponents is provoking Putin for further threats and aggression. That is why the West must invest in the political, military and economic success of Ukraine. EU integration is the only way to create such a successful democratic Ukraine, for that purpose, the EU should put forward for Ukraine a new process of accelerated reintegration beginning with integration into the EU single market. Such an integration strategy for Ukraine is the most effective long-term strategy to deter Russia. European integration and Western unity is a unique European instrument to keep long-term peace on the European continent.