The European Parliament supports Ukraine

The European Parliament reconfirmed its support for Ukraine for as long as it is necessary to achieve victory against Russia. A resolution adopted on Wednesday presents the first official position of the newly elected European Parliament regarding Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The document reasserts the continuous support of MEPs for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. The resolution was fully supported by five of the eight groups of the community legislature – EPP, S&D, Renew, the Greens and the ECR (Conservatives). The delegations of Romanian sovereigntists and ultranationalists from AUR and SOS took a stand against the resolution regarding EU support for Ukraine.

In its resolution, the European Parliament asks the EU to maintain and extend its sanctions against Russia and Belarus, as well as to monitor and review their effectiveness and impact. Reasserting their firm belief that Moscow must financially compensate Kyiv for the major damages it caused, MEPs hail recent EU efforts to direct revenues from frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv. MEPs have also called for “a solid legal regime for seizing Russian state assets frozen by the EU”. The European Parliament also hailed the outcome of the recent NATO summit and reaffirmed its position that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to joining the Alliance. At the same time, MEPs asked the EU and its Member States to increase their military support for Ukraine for as long as it is required and in any form necessary. It also called on the European Commission to come up with long-term financial assistance for the reconstruction of Ukraine, based on the recently established Mechanism for Ukraine.

For its part, considering that Kyiv has met the required conditions, the European Commission on Wednesday announced it has greenlit the disbursement of a new installment worth 4.2 billion EUR from the 50 bln-EUR-euro macro-financial assistance package provided to Ukraine by EU27 until 2027. The conditions refer to the implementation of 69 reforms and 10 investments established in the plan agreed between Kyiv and Brussels, which includes measures stipulated in EU accession negotiations. The plan includes reforms in several areas, including energy, agriculture, transport, green transition, digital transformation, as well as objectives to be achieved with a view to joining the EU, such as the adoption of the community acquis, the management of public finances, combating corruption and money laundering. After the disbursement of the new instalment, Ukraine has so far received over 12 bln EUR from the financial aid package promised by the EU.

(Daniela Budu, Radio Romania International)