NordenBladet —
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Marko Mihkelson said in his speech at the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy in Paris today that time had come to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate country for membership in the European Union.
Mihkelson delivered a speech at the Conference, in which he called on his colleagues from Member States to immediately do everything in their power that our unity and solidarity would transform into real support to Ukraine. “Each delay may be a threat to the freedom of the whole Europe,” Mihkelson pointed out.
The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu invited his colleagues to give an affirmative answer to the 70 per cent of the Ukrainians who wanted to see their country in the European Union. “Ukraine is welcome to become a member of the European Union,” he said.
Mihkelson emphasised in his speech that the free world had to put an end to the unpunished war crimes committed by the leadership of the Russian Federation. “No crime against humanity must remain unpunished,” Mihkelson underlined.
Mihkelson called on all Member States of the EU to protect freedom of speech and find ways to stop broadcasting Russia’s war propaganda channels in Europe.
The original programme of the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy, held in Paris today, was cancelled yesterday after Russia launched extensive military activities in Ukraine. The new programme included only items relating to Ukraine. Chairman of the National Defence Committee Enn Eesmaa participated in the Conference via a video bridge.
The representatives of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees of the national parliaments of the European Union and of the European Parliament jointly adopted a declaration, in which they condemn in the strongest terms the Russian military aggression in Ukraine and express their absolute solidarity with the state of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and the legitimate authorities of Ukraine.
Source: Parliament of Estonia