At the Global Europe Forum organised by the centrist Renew Europe group in the European Parliament on Tuesday 9 January, a number of political representatives within the group spoke about strategies to strengthen the EU’s ability to respond to growing economic tensions and intensifying international crises.
The first of the two debates held focused mainly on the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the assurances given by the European representatives in the Renew Europe group that there was no “war fatigue in Ukraine”.
Taking part in the forum by videoconference, Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, expressed her gratitude and emphasised the importance, following the European elections in June, of developing a solid European industrial policy and working more closely together on security issues.
Several MEPs had previously spoken out at the Forum in favour of a coordinated European defence strategy, fearing a possible return to the US presidency by Donald Trump, who has always been critical of NATO.
Discussions also focused on the recently launched negotiations to enlarge the EU and welcome Ukraine into its fold (see EUROPE 13314/1).
“When it comes to rebuilding Ukraine, the aim is not to build better, but to prosper as a future member of the EU”, stressed European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager.
She affirmed that the EU would continue to support Ukraine in financial, military and humanitarian terms, as well as in the areas of telecommunications and trade.
Unblocking 50 billion for Ukraine
She expressed confidence that the European Summit on 1 February would “unblock” the €50 billion ‘Ukraine Facility’ as part of the negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) (see EUROPE 13322/3).
That same morning, the Renew Europe group launched an initiative calling on the other European Parliament political groups to sign a joint declaration calling on the European Council to continue its military and financial support for Ukraine. This declaration also calls for the suspension of Hungary’s voting rights, which are responsible for blocking negotiations on the MFF.
“We are convinced that most of the political groups will join the movement. Not all, we know that, but most”, assured MEP Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, French).
Earlier in the day (see separate news item), the head of Renew Europe, Stéphane Séjourné, came out more strongly in favour of institutional reform to prevent a country from using its veto. “This is more of a structural problem than a short-term one. You can sign a petition, but the reality is that another Member State may do the same thing in the future. (...) To avoid this situation - we can clearly see the limits of unanimity among the EU27 - we need to reorganise voting rights at the EU Council”, he said. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)