European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides updated the European Parliament on Thursday 15 December on the EU’s humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 24 February and the ongoing efforts to provide the Ukrainian population with as much equipment as possible to help them through the winter (see EUROPE 13083/32).
It was an opportunity for her to vilify the Russian bombardment of civilian infrastructure - “18 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian aid, according to the latest UN estimates” - and to assure MEPs of the EU’s “unfailing support for Ukraine”.
In addition to the €485 million in emergency aid already mobilised for more than 13 million Ukrainians and the in-kind assistance channelled through the Civil Protection Mechanism, she said €130 million is being mobilised for winter support in sub-zero temperatures.
With the support of the Member States, 1,000 electrical generators have already been supplied, plus 40 large electrical generators from the RescEU equipment pool for 40 hospitals. “We will soon have 120 more generators in stock and we will further expand the capacity of RescEU”, announced the Commissioner.
MEPs who spoke made extremely harsh statements, starting with the Lithuanian Andrius Kubilius (EPP) who said that “the EU has already done a lot in terms of humanitarian aid” and that “the most important humanitarian aid is weapons and more weapons”.
He felt that all EU citizens should mobilise to help and that each Member State should be twinned with a region in Ukraine. “There should be a European telephone number to have a real European coordinator”, he said.
On the same line, Martine Loiseau (Renew Europe, French) accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “waging a coward’s war and terrorising the population by depriving them of electricity, water and heating”. According to her, “even the most pacifist of Europeans cannot deny Ukraine the generators it lacks, the aid it needs, but the most realistic know that the most effective thing is still to provide Kyiv with the defence systems to repel the strikes”.
She added: “Those of us who truly want peace, a just and lasting peace, know that it will come through a military victory for Ukraine”.
More soberly, Pedro Marques (S&D, Portuguese) felt that it was impossible to stand still. “The EU is morally responsible. It must help Ukraine and live up to its responsibility”, he said.
Veronika Vrecionová (ECR, Czech) said “we should continue to help Ukraine, it is in the interest of the security of our continent”.
Erik Marquardt (Greens/EFA, German) expressed concern about “the lack of preparation in the Member States to receive perhaps millions more refugees”. He also believes that “humanitarian aid must be accompanied by military aid”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)