MEPs from all groups denounced Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and underlined their support for the Ukrainian people on Tuesday 1 March in an extraordinary plenary debate and resolution (637 votes in favour, 13 against and 26 abstentions).
At the beginning of the plenary session, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, spoke via video conference and was applauded at length (see other news). “Our people are very motivated, we continue to fight for our rights, our freedoms, our lives, and today we are fighting for our survival”, he said, aware that no one would go to Ukraine to help them fight for their freedom.
The European Parliament, by adopting the amendment proposed by the ECR and supported by votes from the EPP and S&D (450 in favour, 171 against and 64 abstentions), “pays tribute to the immense courage shown by the Ukrainian people, their heroic President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the brave soldiers defending their country against the Russian invaders”. It calls on “the free world to support their struggle for peace and freedom with all the means at its disposal”.
“The daily acts of extraordinary heroism by Ukrainians inspire us all. (...) They have shown the world that our way of life is worth defending”, said Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
EPP group chair Manfred Weber praised the Ukrainians’ “love of freedom”, calling them “heroes of our European way of life” and not hiding his “admiration” for them “fighting for our values”.
Hailing the “heroic resistance of the Ukrainians and their president in the face of the invasion”, Manon Aubry (The Left, France) explained that Vladimir Putin bore “full responsibility” for the war and had “blood on his hands”.
To this end, Mrs Metsola, like Iratxe García Pérez (S&D, Spain), called for the intervention of the International Criminal Court. The day before, the prosecutor had announced the opening of an investigation “as quickly as possible”, referring to “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”. “We will support the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and the investigation of war crimes in Ukraine. We will hold Putin accountable... just as we will hold Lukashenko accountable”, warned the former, while the latter explained that the Parliament will do everything possible to have Putin tried as a war criminal.
On the other hand, MEPs praised the courage of the thousands of Russians who are demonstrating against the war, and who risk arrest and imprisonment.
Call to activate the Temporary Protection Directive
The European Parliament also called on the Member States to approve without delay the proposal of the European Commission and the French Presidency of the EU Council to activate the 2001 directive on the immediate temporary protection of Ukrainian refugees, in this case at the Home Affairs Council in Brussels on 3 March (see EUROPE 12900/5).
The MEPs also “urge the Council to share equally the responsibility for the reception of refugees arriving at the Union’s external borders among the Member States”, says the resolution adopted on Tuesday. The European Commission is also asked to work on a solidarity mechanism to relocate Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to other Member States, while more than 660,000 people have already fled the country and over 365,000 have arrived in Poland.
The resolution also calls, if necessary, for an “EU-wide halt to return operations to Ukraine” and for the extension of visas for Ukrainian students and other Ukrainian visa holders.
On Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed the need to activate this immediate protection. “We have to do it now, because there will be more Ukrainians who need it. We will be there for them”.
On humanitarian aid (see other news), Ms von der Leyen announced the mobilisation of “at least €500 million” from the EU budget to address the needs, both for Ukrainians who stayed in their ccountry and for refugees.
Supporting Moldova
The Parliament’s resolution also raises the issue of the reception of refugees in Moldova and calls on the European Commission and the Member States to assist Moldova, in particular “to provide temporary shelter for Ukrainian refugees”. The High Representative of the Union and the Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy will visit the country on Wednesday to take stock of the situation.
“It is our duty to help Ukrainians who are fleeing for their lives from Putin’s bombs. That is why we expect the Commission and the Interior Ministers to implement the Temporary Protection Directive immediately, which is a first. We must ensure safe passage and quick refuge for innocent civilians fleeing the Russian invasion”, commented Tomas Tobé (Sweden) and Jeroen Lenaers (Netherlands) for the EPP.
More sanctions and compensation
Referring to the steps already taken, several MEPs welcomed the EU’s support for Ukraine, including the supply of arms. The resolution, via the adoption of a Renew Europe amendment (478 votes in favour, 134 against - mainly Greens/EFA and The Left - and 73 abstentions - mainly ID), calls for increased contributions to the strengthening of Ukraine’s defence capabilities, inviting the European External Action Service and Member States to facilitate the rapid and effective implementation of decisions taken in the framework of the European Peace Facility. For Ryszard Legutko (ECR, Poland), “the Ukrainian army that is opposing the invader needs help, arms, and the means to defend itself”. “Europeans cannot stand by while the country is invaded. A military intervention would be crazy, but we must equip the Ukrainians as well as possible to respond to the aggressor”, said Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA, Belgium).
While welcoming the sanctions already adopted, MEPs called on the EU to go further, including a ban on EU investments in Russia and by Russia in the EU, that no more Russian banks should have access to the European financial system, and that not only Russia but also Belarus should be excluded from Swift. The Parliament also wants to see a ban on access to EU public procurement for the purchase of goods and services from Russia and Belarus. In its view, EU ports should be closed to Russian ships and access should be denied to ships whose last or next port of call is in Russia.
Although it was a request from the Ukrainian President, the amendment proposing inter alia the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine was not adopted (264 votes in favour, 365 against and 57 abstentions).
The President of the European Parliament also announced a ban on any Kremlin representative entering the premises of Parliament. “Aggressors and warmongers have no place in the house of democracy”, Mme Metsola warned.
MEPs also called for every effort to be made to mitigate the impact of the measures adopted and possible countermeasures on Europe’s population and businesses. “We cannot afford to burden citizens with the consequences of sanctions”, explained Marco Zanni (ID, Italy). “These sanctions have a cost for our economies, we call on Europe to mutualise this cost for the most exposed countries and companies”, added Stéphane Séjourné (France) for the Renew Europe group.
Call for diplomacy
“Let’s be clear, economic sanctions will only last for so long (...) We all know that the only sustainable option is diplomatic. All our efforts must be directed towards achieving a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops”, Mrs Aubry added.
The Parliament’s resolution, via an amendment by The Left (610 votes in favour, 66 against and 9 abstentions), stresses that “everything must be done to bring Russia back to the negotiating table”. It calls on the EU, its Member States and the US to continue their diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Similarly, MEPs adopted an amendment from The Left (511 votes in favour, 165 against - including the Renew Europe and ECR groups - and 9 abstentions) calling for an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire and demanding that the channels of communication with Russia remain open and that the parties concerned be ready for dialogue and negotiations until a ceasefire is established and the war ends.
Reducing the EU’s energy dependence
While the EU is still heavily dependent on energy imports (Eurostat data indicate an energy dependency of 57.5% in 2020), the resolution reiterates Parliament’s calls to “significantly reduce energy dependence” of the Union, in particular on Russian gas, oil, and coal.
It calls for restrictions on the import of Russia’s main export goods, “including oil and gas”, and reiterates its call for the permanent abandonment of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, whose certification has been halted by the German government until further notice (see EUROPE 12896/2).
MEPs also call for a diversification of energy sources, “including expanding liquefied natural gas terminals and supply routes, unbundling gas storage and increasing energy efficiency and the speed of the clean energy transition”.
This last point was also emphasised by Mrs von der Leyen, who called the acceleration of the environmental transition a “strategic investment”, because “every kilowatt-hour of electricity Europe generates from solar, wind, hydropower and biomass reduces our dependence on Russian gas”. She added: “less dependence also means less money for the Kremlin’s war chest”.
In the first half of 2021, Russian deliveries accounted for 46.8% of total EU gas imports and 24.7% of oil, according to Eurostat.
During their remarks in the plenary session, several presidents of the Parliament’s political groups addressed the energy issue. Mr Séjourné called for a trade embargo on technology, oil and gas, in order to “dry up the Putin clan’s war funding”. “Only with courage and sacrifice will we achieve the energy independence needed to bring Putin to his knees”, said Mrs García Pérez (S&D, Spain), while calling for the creation of strategic gas reserves in the short term.
Deploring the EU’s “massive” energy dependence on Russia for gas, oil and nuclear fuel, Mr Lamberts said “energy independence is the key to the EU becoming a respected geopolitical player”. This, he said, “will never be achieved by putting gas and nuclear power at the heart of our energy strategy”, but by developing energy efficiency and renewable energies.
In addition, the ID group denounced the fact that the other political groups refused to allow the group to join the joint resolution on Ukraine. On behalf of his group, Marco Zanni (Italy) called the resisters “petty personalities”.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/ka (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant, Damien Genicot and Solenn Paulic)