Today, it is exactly two years since Russia has invaded Ukraine. As European Greens, we stand firm in our undivided solidarity with Ukraine. Therefore the backtracking of Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on the accession talks is unacceptable, European Greens leading candidates Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout said.
At the same press conference, von der Leyen did not rule out European People's Party (EPP) cooperation with far right and extreme right parties, which is a very dangerous path.
In December the European leaders agreed to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. The European Commission was expected to put a negotiation framework on the table soon. But Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference this week that the negotiation framework will not be ready before the European election.
Terry Reintke, leading candidate of the European Greens, reacts: “Von der Leyen puts the accession talks on the back-burner. This is a very wry signal towards Ukraine, just before the second anniversary of its courageous resistance against Russian aggression. The European Commission should keep its promises towards Ukraine”.
European Greens leading candidate Bas Eickhout adds:
“We remember all the lost lives, and we pay tribute to the brave Ukrainians who continue courageously to fight for peace and democracy. Ukraine’s struggle for freedom is also our struggle. Their, and our, security, depends on our support. The EU should proceed swiftly on all dimensions, including financial and military support. And as Greens we repeat our commitment to full membership: Ukraine’s future lies in the European Union”.
European People’s Party cooperation with the far right
At the same press conference, von der Leyen did not rule out cooperation with far right and extreme right parties. “The cut-off line is ‘do you stand for democracy, do you defend our values, are you very firm in the rule of law and are you supporting Ukraine?’. And these answers have to be very clear,” she said, when asked if she would work with the ECR, avoiding a direct “yes” or “no” response.
European Greens lead candidate Terry Reintke reacts: “The European People's Party and its leaders must urgently draw a clear line, and exclude any possibility of governing with the far right and extreme right forces. At a time when democracy in Europe is under attack from both from the inside and the outside, all pro-European democrats should stand firm and defend the democratic principles more than ever. They must rule out cooperating with the far right who would undermine and destroy those principles, and the European Union itself”.
European Greens lead candidate Bas Eickhout adds: “That the European People’s Party ( EPP) doesn’t clearly exclude cooperation with the far-right parties shows the depths they are willing to descend to in order to maintain their power. The criteria which Commission President von der Leyen put on the table to decide which parties the EPP might cooperate with are ambiguous, to say the least. Would the EPP strike post electoral agreements with PiS, that has been trying to dismantle the judiciary system and independence in Poland when in Government? Or with Vox whose leadership claims that life was better under Franco than under democratically elected Governments? Is EPP going to cooperate with Fratelli d’Italia whose representatives are exerting direct censorship on Italian public television?”.
