Ukraine - not Russia - must decide Ukraine’s future

Europe and Ukraine must defend their shared interests and not give in to Moscow, insist Members of the EPP Group, amid talks about a peace plan and ahead of Parliament's plenary debate on the recent draft plans and on European efforts toward an immediate ceasefire and a just peace for Ukraine.

“If Europe doesn’t make decisions for itself, others will make them for us. Drafting a document over the heads of Ukraine and the EU’s partners is a direct threat to our security. And we must not forget: Russia, and only Russia, is the aggressor.  It is Russia that destabilises our societies and our political system. It is Russia that must be required to reduce its forces and capitulate, not Kyiv,” says Andrzej Halicki MEP and Vice-Chair of the EPP Group for Foreign Affairs.

“Ukrainians and Europeans must stand united and defend our common interests. There can be no decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine,” stresses Michael Gahler MEP, the European Parliament’s standing rapporteur on Ukraine and the EPP Group’s Foreign Affairs spokesman. “We demand an immediate ceasefire - a Ukrainian request since March and the litmus test of Russia’s sincerity. Russia does not decide who joins NATO. And we will never legally recognise the de facto occupation of Ukrainian territory.”

“Europe must be present at any negotiation table: the outcome will define our collective security. Our support to Ukraine is unwavering and long-term; its European path must advance with determination and credibility, because Ukraine’s security and stability are essential to Europe’s own security", underlines Nicolás Pascual De la Parte MEP, EPP Group spokesman on Security and Defence. 

"Russian frozen assets must, without hesitation, be used to rebuild Ukraine and to maintain its defence capabilities. EU and its Member States must also use their own budgets to guarantee stable financial support for Ukraine", said Pekka Toveri MEP, chairman of Parliament's Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee.