Krakow, 20/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The political bureau of the European Parliament's EPP Group is meeting in Krakow on 20-21 February and has had to make changes to its agenda due to the crisis in Ukraine. Arnaud Danjean (EPP, France), a specialist in the European Parliament on defence issues, is in charge of drafting a resolution on the issue, along with his colleague Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (EPP, Poland). The resolution is due to be put to the plenary, possibly next week. Danjean explains the challenges of this resolution. (Interview conducted by Solenn Paulic).
Agence Europe (AE): On Thursday morning you were put in charge of co-writing a resolution for the EPP Group with your colleague Jacek Saryusz-Wolski. The resolution is to be submitted to the plenary. What will it contain?
Arnaud Danjean (AD): It's still a bit early to tell - but it will be on reiterating the challenges in the face of a situation that has greatly evolved and that has had dramatic developments. What we are witnessing is no longer a fight for or against the EU, or for or against the association agreement that was proposed at the end of last November, but a crisis of regime. The regime is responsible for the unacceptable action of recent weeks and the regime must stop the bloodbath. So a mix of sanctions and mediation is needed. However, I believe this is coming too late. From before the summit in Vilnius, the European leaders - at the highest level - should have taken hold of the issue. They could also have given it more importance at the European summit in December. We have been too slow in giving a political response. In my view, there should have been an extraordinary European Council on the issue.
AE: Where do you think the EU has been weak?
AD: We have made mistakes in the way we tackled the Eastern Partnership. It's an eminently political - and even geostrategic - issue. It can't be dealt with exclusively by a European commissioner for enlargement and neighbourhood policy. For years we have dealt with the issue from a technical angle but we discovered in Vilnius last November that the issue conceals deeper challenges - particularly with Russia. We must not, therefore, hide behind technical processes, or behind an ineffective distribution of roles between the member states. It is not healthy or effective, in my opinion, to delegate certain areas to certain countries - Africa to France, Ukraine to Poland. It's not like this that Europe is really going to be able to have an effect on how things go! It's important that one member state doesn't find itself with the sole responsibility for an issue. The 28 member states need to be bonded together strongly.
AE: Do you think, like Saryusz-Wolski, that the EU should intervene directly on the ground, in the form of a peace operation?
AD: No, that's not realistic! A UN Security Council resolution would be needed for that, and the agreement - or even request - of Ukraine itself… No, that's unthinkable! And the issue remains more a political one than about security. The government must nevertheless stop the firing from its police and special forces. This is a crucial prerequisite for getting out of the crisis. We need the firing to stop, constitutional reforms and new elections. We also need to be realistic - the solution is to be found in Kiev.