Speeches

Madam President, thank you President for your strong leadership. I have a very realistic dream. We must achieve the EU enlargement no later than 2030. For this, it is necessary to invite Ukraine and Moldova for negotiations already this year. There has never been in history such a case: a nation fighting horrific military war carries out reforms and strengthens democracy all at the same time. The Ukrainians are doing it with a strong determination. Does the EU have the same? We also need to prepare to reform without delay. But some EU countries are dragging their feet. Some forget solidarity slogans and complain, even over grain. Some are afraid of Ukraine’s crushing military victory over Russia. ‘What will happen to Russia?’ they ask. I can answer with certainty: Ukraine’s victory will open the way for democratic change in Russia and in Belarus. It will free all Russia’s neighbours from the Kremlin’s blackmail and threats. Ukraine’s victory will bring lasting peace in Europe. Therefore, I say not ‘as long as it takes’, but ‘until Ukraine’s victory, until our victory’.

Madam President, Lithuania has the longest border with Belarus and we constantly live under Putin’s puppet Lukashenka’s provocations. But we strongly believe in Belarus’s European and democratic future. We have experienced Lukashenka’s weaponised migration attacks, the hijacking of an aircraft, the deployment of nuclear weapons, the arrival of the terrorist Wagner group, constant threats and blackmail. But we are not afraid: not afraid to name Lukashenko and Putin as war criminals; not afraid to admit that Ukraine’s crushing victory will bring changes in Russia, Belarus and the region. We have sheltered an unprecedented number of Belarusians. We host the only university in exile and the office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. I urge to take regular contact with the representatives of democratic Belarus. Let’s not forget the political prisoners. Let’s prepare for democratic Belarus and help it come through.

Mr President, dear colleagues, Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, thank you for your personal involvement in saving Ukraine. Let me continue from where you left off. After Nova Kakhovka, it should be obvious to all that we must stop the terrorist Putin regime. And we must take bold steps that are needed to ensure sustainable peace in Europe for generations to come. This requires even more courage than we have shown so far. Putin likes it when the world fears him. I am not sure that we have learnt all of our lessons. Fear led some NATO countries in Bucharest not to grant MAP to Ukraine. Now we have a chance to correct our mistakes. The EPP Group recently adopted a position on Ukraine’s membership of NATO. The EPP expects that the upcoming Vilnius and Washington summits pave the way to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join NATO, and that the accession process will start after the war is over and be finalised as soon as possible. Why is this particularly important? First, a grey security zone of the size of Ukraine between Russia and the West would pose a permanent temptation. Second, Ukrainian battle-tested and Western-equipped armed forces would provide significant military added value in Europe. Third, it will unite us to guarantee sustainable peace on the European continent. And fourth, it will prevent any future possible aggressive revenge and stop Russian neo-imperial expansionism. ‘Do not be afraid’, said Pope Paul II back in the Soviet times. And Ukrainians are not afraid. Let us not be afraid to take bold steps today. Putin’s dictatorship is not power. Freedom is power.

Mr President, dear colleagues, the horrifying crimes the Russian regime is committing in Ukraine are not new. This is history repeating itself once again. My mother was nine years old when Stalin’s communists deported her and her family to Siberia, just because her parents were teachers. Only half the family returned. She could not have imagined that the deportations would return to the European continent in her eyes again. Deportations returned because the crimes of the USSR were not condemned, the perpetrators never convicted internationally; they lied to the world until the fall of the USSR that they were deporting prostitutes and criminals and this was somehow justified. The same lies accompany the war against Ukraine now. We have been repeating for a long time, ‘never again’. That is why the ICC arrest warrant for Putin is also a hope that this time the crimes will be evaluated so that the ‘never again’ will not remain just words. However, this warrant is only the beginning. Those who behead prisoners will also be sentenced, and there must be a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine for Putin and his regime. By the way, I invite everyone to save the date: 14 June here in Strasbourg on the Louise Weiss Agora, the Parliament will commemorate forced Soviet deportations by reading the names of those deported. We will also pay respect to victims of deportations from Ukraine of today.

Mr President, dear colleagues, although we are late, we are finally getting to the point. The pandemic has woken Europe up and the Russian war has opened our eyes. We need for a strategy towards China. The right strategy requires the right assessment of the situation, and we got it from both key speakers today. Thank you. Russia and China have the same goal: to destroy the development of the democratic world, because democracy is a threat to both regimes. China’s aims are even greater: to take over as much of the world as possible. Hence, the key principle of our strategy is the unity of democracies. We cannot repeat the same mistakes. I hope that we have learned the lessons from the dependence on Russia. Today, when we speak about security, we need to talk not about autonomy from the US, but about the common strategy for democracies and how to overcome autocracies and dictatorships. Mr Weber is right. Taiwan is not just a US interest, President Macron, this part of the Chinese people – like Hong Kong as well – has proved that democracy is not a foreign idea to the Chinese. China seeks to divide us. The most striking example is the former 17+1 China—CEE cooperation format. The first step of the common strategy would be abandoning this format. I call for a long—term strategy towards Russia and China that is not aimed at momentary benefits but focuses on sustainable peace and security on the European continent.

Madam President. Thank you, Ukraine. Thank you for defending peace. What would Europe be like if Putin had taken over Ukraine in three days, as he planned? Yes, it was a horrible year. However, it would be much worse if the infection of Putinisation took over a large part of the European continent. Today, Ukraine is winning this war. But it depends on us, how fast the decisive Ukrainian victory will be achieved. A year ago, Ukrainians got not scared fending off terrorist Russia. We are safe behind Ukraine’s shoulders. And we also should not be scared. We must provide Ukraine with everything they need: air defence systems, fighter jets, tanks, long-range missiles. We must deliver on opening EU membership negotiations as soon as possible this year. We must not repeat the Bucharest NATO summit mistake: we must invite Ukraine to join NATO at the Vilnius NATO summit this year. Our bravery will bring the victory faster and save many Ukrainian lives. This can also bring change in Russia itself. But we must not be afraid of the fall of Putin’s regime. I didn’t want to say this – what I will say now today – but I have to. Yes, Berlusconi is horrible, but he is not alone. Socialist Schröder, Socialist Presidents of Croatia, Bulgaria, Socialist leader in Slovakia – let’s condemn all of them. Let’s fight all proxies of Putin on our own courtyards. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, dear colleagues, Russia must be defeated and expelled from Ukrainian soil – not some day, but this year. This requires hundreds of tanks, fighter jets and long—range missiles, now. Ukraine must be invited to EU membership negotiations – not some day, but this year. Our goal is to grant EU membership to Ukraine before the end of this decade. Bold and swift EU decisions on Ukraine’s future in EU will help the country to ultimately defeat Putin. NATO must welcome Ukraine through its open doors, not at some point in the future, but as soon as war hostilities on its territory end. That means this year. We have to be ready for that. The EU must act as a geopolitical leader because this is a historic chance for us all. We need Ukraine.

Madam President, dear colleagues, this morning the Swedish prime minister said, ‘Ukrainian victory is existential for Europe and, honestly, existential for the whole world’. I more than agree. The European Parliament will adopt the right and necessary resolution on a special tribunal for Kremlin crimes of aggression. But will there be enough courageous heads of state who will establish such a tribunal without delay? Let us hope so. We have shown incredible unity, but every time the Russians hit the Ukrainian people’s homes with horrific missiles, I feel guilty that we are not doing enough. We need to overcome our own fears and act with much more determination. Are we so weak that we cannot allocate enough weapons and resources and make the terrorists in the Kremlin stop? No, we are not weak. Let us do everything we can.

Madam President, dear colleagues, Georgia belongs in Europe. It was torn away from Europe by force by Soviet Russia. Today, 20% of its territory is still under Russian occupation. The remaining bloodstained dividing lines in Europe imposed by Stalin and Hitler must be erased. Georgia’s membership of the EU is the best way to achieve it. I am convinced that Georgia will be a member of the European Union. The Georgian people deserve it. I am also sure that EU enlargement makes the EU stronger, including its security. However, I am not sure if Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is holding Georgia hostage, is aiming for the same as the Georgian people. The Georgian authorities know very well what they have to do. All is written in the recommendation of the Commission and they have to do it without manipulations or pretence. Keeping the seriously—ill former President Mikhail Saakashvili in prison is not a European value. Torturing people is Putin’s policy. I call on the Georgian authorities, including the President, to do everything so that the issue of Mikhail Saakashvili’s life does not fall on their conscience.

Mr President, colleagues, there is the war criminal and usurper Lukashenko, and there are the people of Belarus on the other side. Thousands of them are imprisoned; most of them are silenced in captivity, but it will not always be like this. Belarus will be free because Ukraine will win. That is why the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment is fighting on the Ukrainian front against Russia, and that is why President-elect Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other leaders of the Belarusian people are working actively through diplomatic means. Both war criminals, Putin and Lukashenko, will be convicted in a special tribunal. I believe that in my lifetime, Belarus, a nation with the honourable European history, will become part of the EU family. However, before that, Lukashenko and Putin have to be completely isolated and the EU has to continue to support the democratically elected leaders of Belarus, who are the real representatives of the people of Belarus. (The speaker used a slogan in a non-EU language)

Madam President, two war criminals – Lukashenko and Putin – are holding the Belarusian nation captive and terrorised. Lukashenko is responsible not only for stealing the elections, but also for giving Belarus sovereignty away to Russia. Lukashenko and the Iranian regime are helping Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine. They are responsible for the war crimes. They must be sanctioned and face justice in an international tribunal. At the same time, Lukashenko feels vulnerable and scared. He would have opened a second front against Ukraine, but he knows the true will of the Belarusian people – they are against the Russian aggression, they seek to be good neighbours for Ukrainians. The Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment in Ukraine, formed of Belarusian volunteers, is the true expression of that will. There are nearly 1 500 political prisoners of Lukashenko’s regime. The number is growing. I invite each one of you to become a godparent to one of the political prisoners. Your postcards, your telephone call to their family will be a precious signal of support. Let’s make sure not one of them is forgotten. I also invite the European Parliament to formalise relations with a democratic Belarus, led by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Free and democratic Belarus is possible, but we have to help Ukraine to win this war. Ukraine’s victory will bring victory for free Belarus and free Russia. Let’s do our utmost to achieve this victory. (The speaker used slogans in non-official languages)

Madam President, dear colleagues, we just heard Putin’s words. Now we have to be back to the topic. We have never had a situation like this before. It is clear that a major nuclear power, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, with all its military and administrative power, is committing acts of terror – killing civilians, destroying infrastructure, using systemic violence and intimidation. We must name Russia a terrorist state for several reasons. First, it must be isolated, just like cancer cells are isolated by medical doctors. Second, to guarantee accountability and to prevent impunity. A list of concrete actions have to follow. Russia is not a terror—sponsoring country. Russia is a terrorist state. The EU needs to build its own legal framework to define what a terrorist state is and how to contain it. We have to start to do this now, not tomorrow.

Mr President, dear colleagues, for 20 years, corruption have been the biggest export of Putin’s regime. The public friends of Putin we just heard, who speak regularly in this House, his open cronies in Member States, are an important part of Russia’s war today. But there is another side to the Putinisation of Europe: the Kremlin has developed sophisticated methods where the openness of democracy is used to influence the emotions of people and politicians. The Kremlin has become adept at easily achieving goals. Their manipulations and lies are on the front pages of the media, presented as alternative or second opinions. Their lies are presented through some NGOs, cultural, business, sports or even religious organisations that are penetrated and funded by the Kremlin. We have not yet fully identified this. Today, our biggest challenge is to counter blackmail with gas and nuclear weapons. The Kremlin needs fear-inspiring headlines and speeches. Our response must be our refusal to be afraid. Let’s de-Putinise our fears. The moment of truth, the Kyiv moment, is our chance to evaluate the past and to clean up our political system.

Mr President, dear colleagues, today we are writing the history textbook of our generation. More precisely, the Ukrainians are writing the history of the new Europe with their own blood. Thank you, dear Ursula, for your leadership. Granting EU candidate status to Ukraine is so widely supported. However, that will not be enough. It is necessary to help Ukraine win the war and give Ukraine the weapons it needs. I call on some EU Member States’ politicians to stop sending pessimistic messages to the struggling Ukraine by saying that Ukraine’s path to EU membership will take decades. Show your leadership so that this country becomes part of our family as soon as possible. The impression is that it is not Ukraine but the politicians of some EU countries not ready for Ukraine’s membership. Just as after making the mistake of friendship with Putin, they are not ready for a different Russia. I sincerely congratulate Moldova. I visited the country last week. They have performed a miracle when in peaceful democratic elections they managed to overcome the Kremlin’s candidate. They have turned their country back towards Europe. We must help Moldova seize this historic opportunity. On Monday, with the largest demonstration in the history of modern Georgia, the people sent us a signal from Tbilisi that they are determined to follow the path of Europe. I say very clearly, we are with you Georgians. Unfortunately, it seems that Georgia’s Government did its best not to make the European Commission recommendation more favorable to Georgia. I appeal to all Georgian politicians – both the ruling elites and the opposition – find the strength for a strong European agenda. Your amazing people deserve it. Releasing the imprisoned two former presidents and owner of the opposition media would be an important step towards a European way of life. Regarding the Western Balkans, we must be decisive and ready to move ahead with a clear timetable and concrete milestones. The Western Balkans deserve fair treatment from us.

Mr President, I would like to thank my colleagues for this report and their efforts. The future of Europe’s security will depend on the democratic world overcoming the brutal Kremlin regime and Russia becoming a normal, non-aggressive state. This requires, first of all, acknowledging the fundamental mistakes that have been made so that we do not repeat them again. The Western world has not taken seriously Putin’s plan to destroy democracies. The biggest mistake was engagement with Putin’s regime. Lessons must be learnt. Secondly, those who say that Russia under Putin must not be humiliated as Germany was humiliated after Versailles are misleading. Today we face Hitler’s analogy, who grew out of Stalin’s unacknowledged crimes and evaluated crimes. The situation now is similar to that of Hitler’s and Stalin’s war in Europe. So we must now defeat Putin as Hitler was defeated. Eliminating the main threat to the security of the entire European continent is our most important task. This requires helping Ukraine to defend its territory and not being afraid to believe that Russia can be different. The war criminal Putin must be isolated. To have a different Russia, the current regime must be defeated. I have a feeling that some countries of Europe are frightened of Ukraine’s victory and intend to repeat the same mistakes. If they continue to save the face of the brutal Kremlin regime our efforts to build up our own security capabilities will never be enough.

Mr President, dear colleagues, today is Ukrainian Vyshyvanka Day, so that’s why I am happy to wear a vyshyvanka today. In 1945 Nazi Germany was defeated and their atrocities were revealed and condemned during the Nuremberg trials. The Soviet Union, from the war it started as an aggressor, ended it regarded as an ally, rewarded with new territories. An invisible link between Soviet KGB and current Russian leadership is evident also in this community of crime. The legacy of genocide is transferred from generation to generation. The West wrongly decided to please its conscience with silence over Soviet crimes. They were allowed to call themselves the liberators of Europe, despite having committed the same horrendous crimes in the territories they occupied. The exact same narrative is repeated today in Ukraine; the same unimaginable atrocities follow. But for these outrageous crimes, not only should soldiers be punished, but also their political leaders and military commanders of the Russian Federation, as well as their allies. Also, President Putin and his proxy Lukashenko must be held accountable and tried by a special international tribunal. We therefore call on the EU institutions, in particular the European Commission, to support the creation without any delay of such tribunal and to provide as soon as possible all necessary resources and support for the establishment of this tribunal. Don’t repeat the mistakes of yesterday.

Mr President, today, many people around the world want to defeat Putin. The people of Moldova have already won against Putin by voting for Maia Sandu and her team. Putin openly supported the Kremlin candidate and lost. The EU must give clear hope to the Moldovan people, who have voted for the European way and rejected corrupt politicians. Moldova took in refugees from Ukraine and clearly sided with the democratic states, despite the Kremlin threatening Moldova in the same way as it is threatening Ukraine. The people of Moldova deserve to be part of the European family, and the Council should send a clear signal. Moldovans need a European perspective. If we do not seize this opportunity, there may not be another one soon. The EU has the chance to become a real geopolitical actor. A firm hand extended to Moldova would be a step towards it.

Madam President, dear colleagues, I will just read the stories. Bucha. Mother, father, daughter (nine) and son (five years’ old). The Kadyrovites entered their house. The father’s hands were tied. He was brought to his knees and shot in front of his wife and children. The next day, the boy’s genitals were cut off. He died of bleeding. The mother and daughter were raped for two weeks. Mother, father, grandparents and two-year-old girl. They were all found dead in the house. The father with his hands tied and shot. The child had a cut throat. The mother with torn genitals. A 14-year-old girl was raped by five Russian occupiers. She is pregnant now. An 11-year-old boy was raped in front of his mother. She was tied to a chair to watch it happen. A nine-year-old girl was raped by 11 soldiers – at least 11 sperm samples were found. Then they cut the letter Z on her chest and ripped her stomach open. Her parents were killed in front of her. And more and more. Dear friends, dear colleagues, Putin’s Russia must be defeated and the war criminals must be convicted. Dear sisters and brothers in Ukraine, we stand with you. Slava Ukraini!

Madam President, colleagues, the security situation in Europe today depends on one thing and one thing only: whether we stay strong and united and defeat the 21st century Hitler and Stalin in one, called Putin; whether we defeat him is up to us. Yesterday, a Ukrainian writer, Oksana Zabuzhko, said ‘Ukrainians are not afraid of Russia. The Ukrainians will defend their land’. What about us? Is the European Union afraid of Russia? Are we afraid of high costs? All of us, we have to say ‘no’. Now the key questions for ourselves are, first, full military assistance to the Ukrainians currently defending Europe. Second, full containment of the Putin regime and Russia to the point of total embargo. Third, sanctions until the very end, until the last occupier leaves the Ukrainian soil, all of its territory. Fourth, a special procedure for Ukraine’s EU candidate status now. Ukraine signed its membership application in blood. I call on the Council not to be afraid of Russia and of this challenge to ourselves. Ukraine needs political protection.

Mr President, wars end sooner or later, but the truth never ends. This report is an attempt to face the truth, to understand how deeply we are tied up. Putin’s war against Europe has woken us up, and today some of the provisions of this report have already been implemented. We have to understand, that the Kremlin’s machine of lies is not media. It is a weapon of mass brain and mind destruction. The most important work today is, first, together with the whole world, to remove the malign tumour – Putin. Second, to regain European sovereignty, which has been constrained by the ‘bloody’ gas flowing from the Kremlin. Our dependence on Russian gas is the result of two decades of creeping occupation of Europe. With the Kremlin gas came corruption, and the war is being financed by the euros of European states. Every day, today, all the European countries together pay over EUR 600 million to Russia for gas and oil. That is to say, they buy at least 200 tanks for the Kremlin war every day. Dear German Greens, Socialists and Liberals, you can help Ukraine defend itself and defend us too – embargo the bloody gas now! I wish to thank the rapporteurs for their work.

Mr President, Ukraine signed in their blood the EU membership. I myself must apologise to Ukrainians and to all others that I was too weak to convince my friends in the West in time that Putin is a major threat and that the biggest provocation is not NATO or EU membership, but not being invited to join NATO and the EU. But today there are no more Eastern or Western Europeans. There is only our joint responsibility for the European continent. I want to turn to the Russians. You also can stop the war criminal Putin. I understand that you yourselves are imprisoned and poisoned with lies, but join us nonetheless. The Ukrainians are dying for you also, for a free Russia. Some human being in the Kremlin must act too, to isolate this war criminal with a nuclear button in his hands. Those MEPs who went to the occupied Crimea must now go to Putin and stop him. Ukrainian blood binds you. We are witnessing the beginning of an end for Putin. When that end will come, I cannot tell you. I only know that we must do all that is in our power to bring it closer. Thank you, Ukraine. Slava Ukraini.

Mr President, I am happy to have European family heads and Members together to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are like us, and want to live like us in the same European family. The EU Founding Fathers have assumed their leadership to unite and try a democratic Western Europe. Now it is the time for us to assume a similar leadership, to unite all democracies in the European continent, because without a strong Ukraine, there will be no strong Europe. The EU will be as strategically strong, and will be able to become an important actor there. It is not the time for naive Chamberlains or illusions that relations with Putin’s Kremlin can be mutually productive, or that the concessions will help. It is important that the West remains united in solidarity, even if this escalation will end without military action. We must agree on what leading role the EU must play, and what it can do to help Ukraine and other countries striving for EU membership. If Europe will return to business as usual with the Kremlin, we will be doomed to a circle of hybrid, and not only hybrid, wars. Also an intensive treatment for EU is necessary, including saving EU from cancer cells, that the Kremlin-controlled corrupt has. Already today, Putin deserves a tribunal for threatening to start a war to kill people. For Navalny, who is a symbol of a poisoned and imprisoned Russia and for whom I wish strength. I thank the Ukrainians.

Mr President, for my generation, the dissolution of the USSR was a great victory to which we contributed. I firmly believed then that the signatories of Belovezh – Russia, Ukraine and Belarus – would become democratic European states. It is harder for them because the Communist regime that destroyed nations and people ruled them for more than 60 years. Imagine 60 years of Nazi rule! What would Europe have been like? Nazism was condemned internationally. The Communist crimes, not. Impunity for their crimes leads to the same aggression today. I am disappointed that only three political groups supported our initiative to take a comprehensive look at the history of the deportations and the Gulags through an EP resolution. I call on colleagues who are not indifferent to sign its text. We are at a turbulent time again. The Kremlin’s ultimatums on NATO remind me of the Ribbentrop-Molotov division of Europe. We cannot allow this. The Ukrainians and the Belarusians need help to defend themselves, but the Russians need help too. The Sakharov Prize for Navalny, the Nobel Peace Prize for Dmitry Muratov are the right steps. However, this is not enough. First of all, we must not be afraid. Putin frightens and intimidates both us and his own people. But we must follow the example of Navalny and not be afraid. Nothing provokes the Kremlin more than inaction out of fear of provoking Russia. The democratic world is stronger than autocracies. Let us invite Ukraine and Georgia to an even closer cooperation with the EU. Moldova has high expectations from us. Its success would be the success of Europe as a whole – including Russia. Free, democratic and economically prosperous, formerly-enslaved nations of the USSR would be the best remedy for its imperial ills.

Mr President, this report is a very special event. The first European Parliament report devoted exclusively to Taiwan. I commend the rapporteurs on that. The example of Taiwan shows that the Chinese nation can live in a democracy. Live very successfully, prosperously, and not aggressively. As the report points out, Taiwan is a healthy democracy and technologically advanced economy. There is a direct connection between European prosperity and Asian security. And Taiwan could contribute to maintaining a rules-based order in the region. The EU and Member States should take a proactive role in establishing partnerships with the democratic government of Taiwan. The government of my country has taken a brave step to set up a Taiwanese representative office in Lithuania. I commend the report’s draft text expressing support and solidarity with Lithuania, and I urge other Member States to follow Lithuania’s example and strengthen ties with Taiwan.

Madam President, despite the fact that cyberspace is one of the greatest inventions of humanity, it can become the most dangerous weapon in the hands of evil in the 21st century. Russia and China, the main countries from where the cyber-threats derive, already have well-prepared special cyber-units within their armed forces. Also, they use private structures and are able to act very aggressively. The lack of boundaries in the cybernetic domain and the high-level cyber-attacks are a massive threat, and so they demand a coordinated response on the EU’s part. So it is crucial to reinforce the EU’s defence in this domain, as well as intensive cooperation between the EU and NATO. I am happy that this important security issue has received a large cross-partisan support and agreement. The draft report reflects well the most important aspects of cyber-defence, such as prevention, as well as better crisis management or ability to respond to large-scale cyber-attacks. Dear colleagues, I invite you to support this report.