Newly-elected European Parliament reaffirms strong support for Ukraine
In its first week of plenary sittings since the June 2024 elections, the European Parliament voted in favour of a resolution that the EU must continue to support Kyiv for as long as it takes until victory.
The vote, held on July 17 after debate, was 495 in favour, 137 against, with 47 abstentions.
The resolution, which sets out the newly-elected European Parliament’s first official position on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, restated the continued support of MEPs for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.
It called on the EU to maintain and extend its sanctions policy against Russia and Belarus, monitor and review its effectiveness and impact, and systematically tackle the issue of sanctions circumvention by EU-based companies, third parties, and third countries.
While restating their firm conviction that Russia must compensate financially for the destruction it has caused in Ukraine, MEPs welcomed recent EU efforts to direct revenues coming from frozen Russian assets to support the Ukrainian war effort. They also want a “sound legal regime for the confiscation of Russian state-owned assets frozen by the EU”.
The European Parliament welcomed the outcome of the recent Nato summit and reaffirms its stance that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to Nato membership.
MEPs called on the EU and member states to increase their military support for Ukraine for as long as necessary and in whatever form necessary.
They called on the European Commission to propose long-term financial assistance for the reconstruction of Ukraine, building on the experience of the newly established Ukraine Facility.
The European Parliament condemned Russia’s barbaric missile attack on the Okhmadyt children’s hospital in Kyiv, and the recent visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the Russian Federation, which does not represent the EU and is a blatant violation of the EU’s treaties and common foreign policy.
The text said that Hungary should face repercussions for these actions.
Given the Hungarian Prime Minister’s so-called “peace mission” was immediately followed by the children’s hospital attack, the resolution said that this shows the “irrelevance” of Orbán’s alleged peace efforts.
(Photo: European Parliament)
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