On Tuesday 26 November, MEPs were divided over the support to be given to Ukraine, with representatives of the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and ECR groups calling for increased support, and those of the PfE, The Left and ENS groups calling for negotiations.
“After 1,000 days, you would think that there was no more escalation possible (...), but the escalation continues”, denounced Michael Gahler (EPP, German), citing the arrival of 10,000 North Koreans “who are being brought in as cannon fodder”.
Thijs Reuten (S&D, Dutch) warned against Europeans taking a wait-and-see attitude. “We see a lack of urgency in the capitals”, he regretted, adding that it was necessary to “ensure that Ukraine has what it needs. We need to do more instead of less, and give it the strongest possible position on the ground and in negotiations”.
“At this crucial moment, we need to mobilise more and more support for Ukraine, without restriction. The fate of global security is now being decided in Ukraine”, stressed Petras Auštrevičius (Renew Europe, Lithuanian). He called for a strengthening of the sanctions regime against Russia and its allies.
The same view was expressed by Rihards Kols (ECR, Latvian), who felt that “we must give Ukraine all the weapons it needs, put all sanctions against Russia’s friends and take Russian assets to rebuild what has been destroyed”.
“If we want peace, we have to help Ukraine fight its way back to peace. Russia must lose this imperialist war and we must do everything we can to support Ukraine in this fight”, added Villy Søvndal (Greens/EFA, Danish).
But the parties at both extremes of the political spectrum have called for an end to military support and for peace negotiations. According to Jean-Paul Garraud (PfE, French), “the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict reminds us of the extreme urgency of achieving a single objective: peace”, “a negotiated, firm peace that respects the sovereignty of nations”.
According to Petr Bystron (ENS, German), citing a poll, the majority of Ukrainians want peace, “even if it means giving up territory”. “Trump won the election, there will be no more American weapons and you want to further escalate the conflict and drag us into World War III!”, he denounced.
Finally, Özlem Demirel (The Left, German) explained that it was “imperative that there be no escalation, but de-escalation”. “I stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, the majority of whom say that the war must end and that there must be immediate negotiations; the men don’t want to fight any more”, she also explained. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)