During his visit to Strasbourg, Petro Poroshenko held meetings with European politicians, heads of the European Commission and members of the European Parliament. “Everyone in Strasbourg is shocked by the massive missile and drone attacks on Ukraine. As well as the audacity of the Putin regime’s actions against Poland, aimed at testing transatlantic unity and NATO’s strength. The Alliance’s response must be decisive and swift, this is our common opinion,” Poroshenko noted.
“The address on the Russian drone attack against Poland and the state of affairs in the EU from the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen are the key events of the day that shook the Strasbourg session of the European Parliament,” the party leader said.
He discussed with the Chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee David McAllister the new initiatives of the European Commission in support of Ukraine’s defense industry, the drone alliance, the use of frozen Russian assets and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
“We also agreed to strengthen the role of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee in accelerating the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union,” Poroshenko wrote on social media.
During a meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, the fifth President emphasized that Ukrainian society is united around the idea of Ukraine’s European future.
“Marta Kos coordinates the entire practical process of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU and is perfectly oriented in both our “strong” sides and “pain” points. We discussed the situation on the front and the prospects for a peaceful settlement, recognizing that the recent massive shelling of Ukraine does not indicate the readiness of the Putin regime to end the war. In this regard, we strongly condemned the rocket attack on the village of Yarove in the Donetsk region, which claimed the lives of more than twenty civilians,” Poroshenko said.
“We agreed on the importance of strengthening internal unity in Ukraine as a guarantee of our stability. He stressed that the entire Ukrainian society is united around the idea of Ukraine’s European future. For millions of Ukrainians, membership in the European Union is both a guarantee of security and a guarantee of well-being, and, importantly, a guarantee of the democratic development of our state. We agreed to continue our contacts to ensure a systematic process of Ukraine’s integration into the EU,” the party leader wrote.
Poroshenko also agreed with the President of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber, on further coordination of the strategy in support of Ukraine. As is known, the EPP has the largest group in the European Parliament, and the European Solidarity party is an associated member of the EPP.
“Russian terror against Ukrainians, especially the recent massive attacks on Ukrainian cities, government institutions, energy infrastructure, and civilians in Yarove, where 24 people died, must be stopped and receive a sharp coordinated response from the West. I thanked Mr. Weber for the personal leadership of the EPP President in promoting the European Parliament Resolution and honoring the memory of our comrade Andriy Parubiy,” Poroshenko noted.
“We discussed the situation on the front, the state of negotiations on ending the war, a common vision of the content of security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe, as well as possible initiatives from the European People’s Party. I called on European partners to pay attention to the importance of working on guarantees for Ukraine’s democratic development, in particular in the context of negotiations on accession to the EU. We coordinated approaches to accelerate the resolution of the issue of the opening by the EU Council of the “Fundamentals” negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova, which will contribute to strengthening the control of Ukrainian society and international partners over the actions of the authorities in the field of the rule of law, justice, human rights and the fight against corruption,” the opposition leader emphasized.
Poroshenko also thanked the Permanent Rapporteur on Ukraine, MEP Michael Haller, for preparing a powerful European Parliament Resolution.
“The time has come, in addition to working out a system of security guarantees, to pay attention to the preparation and implementation of a system of democratic guarantees. This is necessary to strengthen the internal stability and unity of the state, strengthen the rule of law and multi-party pluralism, ensure freedom of speech and respect for human rights. This is a necessity for implementing an effective anti-corruption policy and preventing selective and politically motivated justice. This is the basis for improving the investment and business climate. “It is fundamentally important to open accession negotiations under the “Foundations” cluster for Ukraine and Moldova as quickly as possible. This will be a clear political signal about the determination of a united Europe and the irreversibility of the European path of our states,” Poroshenko emphasizes.