As a delegation from the European Parliament’s Renew Europe group visited Ukraine on Wednesday 27 March to strengthen parliamentary ties with the Ukrainian Parliament’s Presiding Officer, Ruslan Stefanchuk, and its other leaders, the group launched a position paper on European defence. The paper builds on the group’s defence priorities, which it is presenting in the run-up to the forthcoming European elections (see EUROPE 13375/17).
The group is focusing its campaign on the creation of a “real European Defence Union”, with proposals to establish a security and defence committee within the European Parliament and provide additional funding solutions for security and resilience, in particular by mobilising up to €100 billion in a common defence fund.
“A real European Defence Union will save money by ending duplication and waste, but to do that we need to invest now and invest in Europe’s defence industrial base”, said Renew Europe President, French MEP Valérie Hayer.
The position paper also stresses the need to strengthen the application of sanctions and the fight against their circumvention, as well as the end of unanimity in EU foreign policy decisions.
Renew Europe is also calling on the Member States of the European Union to urgently increase their support for Ukraine, in particular by supplying Taurus missiles.
Furthermore, the group continues to support official observer status for Ukrainian candidates, as soon as possible, and at the latest when an accession treaty is signed.
To see the position paper, go to https://aeur.eu/f/bj2 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)