Debate: Russian aggression against Ukraine
Date: TUESDAY, 1 MARCH 2022
Speaker: Philippe Lamberts
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Sweden
Language: EN

To your aggressor I say: your lies for justifying war cannot, and will not, remain unchallenged. No, Mr Putin, Ukraine is not ruled by Nazis. On the contrary, its legitimately—elected President stems from a family which was bloodied in the Holocaust.  No, Mr Putin, there is no genocide going on in the Donbas. What is happening there is a war that you yourself started eight years ago, which has already taken 14 000 lives, and which your invasion brings only to a new level.  No, Mr Putin, Ukraine has never intended to get nuclear weapons. On the contrary, it relinquished voluntarily those it inherited in 1991 from the Soviet Union in exchange for its territorial integrity, which you have been trampling on ever since you annexed Crimea in 2014. No, Mr Putin, there was no perspective for Ukraine to join NATO in the foreseeable future. If there is such an aspiration in Ukraine, as there was in so many nations once subjugated by the Soviet Union, your aggression against Ukraine explains why.  No, Mr Putin, the NATO member states have no intention to deny the Russian peoples’ right to peace and security. It is your reckless actions that imperil those legitimate aspirations. The reality, Mr Putin, is that the people of Ukraine chose freedom,  democracy, the rule of law and peace. That choice, made by a people so close to Russia’s by history and geography, was never a threat to Russia’s security, but to the very existence of your authoritarian and kleptocratic rule.  This is the real reason for the invasion and the cost of precious human lives and livelihoods, both Ukrainian and Russian.  The reality, Mr Putin, is that your brutal aggression against the Ukrainian people is doomed to fail. You wanted to deny their very existence as a people, but your aggression is cementing their unity against the invader.  As citizens of the European Union, we know that the war on Ukraine is more than just an aggression against a sovereign state. It is a direct challenge to the values that lie at the foundation of our Union.  Ever since it was started, the European project was – and remains – a peace project, so that the rule of brute force be replaced by the rule of law and so that democracy, dialogue, compromise and cooperation across national borders provide the best basis for shared and sustainable prosperity. We Europeans cannot stand by idle when a partner country is invaded and when our fundamental values are challenged in such a brutal way.  This is why – short of direct military intervention, which would be foolish – we must, and we will, provide the Ukrainian people with all the support we can in order to face the aggression. This is why we must, and we will, provide safe haven without any discrimination to all those who are fleeing the war to seek refuge on our territory.  This is why we must, and we will, mobilise all the political, economic and financial means at our disposal to exert maximum pressure on Putin’s Russia in order to make him stop his aggression.  Let me be clear to the people of Russia: we have no quarrel with you. You too have the right to live in dignity, and many of you are standing up daily to defend it at great personal risk. We know that resuming the diplomatic dialogue with your country is the only path to sustainable peace on our continent, but this can only happen if the aggression stops.  As for us Europeans, meeting the challenge put to us by Putin’s war will test our strength, our determination and, above all, our unity. It will not come cheap. Therefore, it will force us to make hard choices.  The first must be for cohesion within and across Member States. The global financial crisis, the eurozone crisis and the pandemic have deepened social and economic injustice in our Union. It cannot be that, once again, the brunt of the massive efforts required to counter Putin’s war will be carried by the weakest shoulders.  Should that be the case, the legitimate resentment would sap the very basis of our social contract, as well as those of our Union. This would fulfil one of Putin’s unsaid goals – dividing us.  The second must be for energy independence. Indeed, our massive dependence on Russia for raw materials and energy is a primary reason for Europe’s lack of determination to deter the Russian regime up until now. That is no surprise when 40% of our gas, 30% of our coal, of our oil and of our nuclear fuel – don’t forget that – is provided by Russia as the EU is almost devoid of those resources. Is our plan really to replace this massive dependence on Russia with another equally massive dependence on anyone else? We say that energy independence is the key for the EU to become a respected geopolitical player, and that will never be achieved by putting gas and nuclear at the heart of our energy strategy.  As the President said, only renewables and energy efficiency can give us the strategic autonomy we seek. It is not just for the climate that we must accelerate the energy transition. It is for our security and for the resilience of our economies.  Dear colleagues, never before has the European Union been challenged in such a direct and brutal way. I have no doubt that we collectively – and only collectively – have the strength, the resources, the determination and, above all, the wisdom to meet this challenge together, and together with Ukraine, because we belong together.