Ahead of the EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev on 3 February, ECR MEPs were unanimous in calling for every effort to be made to ensure that Russia does not win the war against Ukraine under any circumstances. This means, first and foremost, more and faster arms deliveries.
Addressing the representatives of the Commission and the Swedish Presidency in the plenary session, ECR Group Vice-President Beata Szydło stressed that humanitarian aid was also an important factor, that sanctions against Putin’s regime should be enforced and that Ukraine should be brought closer to the West, if possible through rapid EU accession. But weapons are still the decisive factor.
She also thanked all the countries that had taken in Ukrainian refugees. Poland, she said, had realised early on that European security depended on a Ukrainian victory.
According to Szydło, “the European Union needs Ukraine as much as Ukraine needs the European Union. We need to be more determined. We need to be more effective, more univocal and more united.”
“Ukraine’s future lays within the European Union. Ukraine is determined to win the war and to become a Member of the European Union. When EU Member States agree on sanctions, they should be respected. Those sanctions have to be implemented consistently. Today, Ukraine needs weapons more than anything else. Ukraine will not win this war without weapons and we are aware of that. But are all Member States, including us here, always determined enough to support Ukraine militarily?” added Szydło.
“Political aid is needed, but humanitarian aid is also needed. We have to thank the European societies that have shown how it’s done. Poland has demonstrated that it understands that the future of the European Union, the security of the European Union, the security of all of us, depends on whether Ukraine will win.”
