Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was warmly welcomed on Thursday 9 February at the European Parliament in Brussels, where he recalled that his country’s place was in the EU.
Hailing the European way of life, the President said that for Ukrainians it was “their home”. “This is our Europe. These are our rules. This is our way of life. And for Ukraine, it’s a way home”, he said.
According to Mr Zelensky, the aim of Russia’s all-out war is to destroy the European way of life as such, after having destroyed the Ukrainian European way of life. “We are defending ourselves against the most anti-European force in the modern world. We are defending ourselves. We, Ukrainians, are on the battlefield with you”, explained the head of state, who took advantage of his speech to thank MEPs and, more broadly, Europeans, for their support “in this historic battle”.
He said that only a Ukrainian victory would ensure that each of the common European values would be maintained. According to him, “Europe will always remain free. As long as we are together and as long as we care about our Europe!”
And he added: “We are getting closer to the European Union. Ukraine will be a member of the European Union. A victorious Ukraine, a member of the European Union, a victorious European Union!”.
The Ukrainian president was applauded at length and several times by MEPs. The latter recalled their support for Ukraine.
Call for more support
In her speech, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, praised the “leadership” of Mr Zelensky, who she said had inspired his people and “every corner of the world. “We understand that you are fighting not only for your values, but also for ours. For those ideals that bind us as sisters and brothers, that make us all Europeans”, she stressed, saying that the EU should honour the sacrifice of Ukrainians with action.
According to the European Parliament President, “our response must be proportionate to the threat - and the threat is existential”. For Ms Metsola, the political will is needed to facilitate trade and speed up the accession process, to help with reconstruction, training of troops and the supply of military equipment and defence systems.
“States should consider, as a next step, providing long-range systems and the jets that (Ukraine) needs to protect the freedom that too many people have taken for granted”, she added, while the Ukrainian president made no concrete demands in his speech.
The Conference of Presidents, in a declaration, called on the Member States to continue to assist Ukraine in political, military, economic, infrastructure, financial and humanitarian areas. She also reaffirmed that Ukraine’s future lies in the EU, praising the country’s “considerable” efforts to achieve the goals of membership. “We hope that all the necessary conditions will be met so that accession negotiations can begin as soon as possible”, she added.
The Conference of Presidents made clear its willingness to do what is necessary to hold Russian actors accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity and atrocities committed in Ukraine and called for frozen Russian assets to be used for the reconstruction effort. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)