Europarlamentaarikko Eero Heinäluoma (sd.) on parhaillaan Ukrainassa, jossa 16. Kiovan turvallisuusfoorumi kokoaa yhteen korkean tason päättäjät keskustelemaan Ukrainan tukemisesta sekä ajankohtaisista turvallisuus- ja puolustusaiheista.
Kiova on säästynyt parin viime kuukauden ajan suorilta iskuilta, mutta tänä aamuna Kiovaan saapunutta junaa vastassa oli Venäjän ilmaohjushyökkäys, jonka jäljiltä ihmisiä loukkaantui ja katuja tyhjennettiin.
“Alasammuttu ohjusromu aiheutti loukkaantumisia ja katujen sulkemisia. Siinä Putinin tervehdys tänään alkavalle Kiovan turvallisuuskonferenssille”, Heinäluoma kommentoi aamun iskuja pikaviestipalvelu X:ssa.
Puoliltapäivin ilmahälytys siirsi foorumin maan alle pommisuojaan.
“Tätä on todellisuus Euroopassa vuonna 2024. Ukrainalaisille tämä ja monta pahempaa asiaa on todellisuutta vuoden jokaisena päivänä. Siksi kaikkea tukea Ukrainalle on lisättävä, ei vähennettävä”, Heinäluoma vaatii.
Turvallisuuskonferenssin aikana Heinäluomalla on mahdollisuus kommentoida EU:n tukea Ukrainalle sekä muita turvallisuus- ja puolustuspolitiikan kysymyksiä.
“EU:n täytyy ottaa aito vastuu Euroopan turvallisuudesta ja kehittää itsestään todellista turvallisuusyhteisöä. Venäjänä täysimittainen hyökkäys Ukrainaan osoittaa EU-maiden turvallisuuden heikot kohdat ja vaatii unionilta isoja uudistuksia”, hän avaa ajatteluaan.
Heinäluoma peräänkuuluttaa EU:lta myös uudistuksia.
“EU:n omassa ajattelussa on luovuttava yksimielisyyspäätöksenteosta ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikan asioissa. Veto-oikeuden antaminen yksittäiselle jäsenmaalle tekee unionista heikon ja hitaan. On aika siirtyä määräenemmistöpäätöksiin myös ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikan kysymyksissä”, Heinäluoma summaa.
“Samoin on aika luopua rajoituksista, jotka estävät EU:n budjettivarojen käytön puolustuksellisen ja sotilaallisen tuen tarpeisiin. Ilman kykyä puolustaa omia arvojaan ja kumppaneitaan unioni ei voi olla tekijä, joka otetaan vakavasti Euroopan turvallisuutta rakennettaessa”, Heinäluoma jatkaa.
“Yksi vanhanaikainen jäänne on säädös, jonka mukaan Euroopan investointipankki EIP ei voi lainoittaa puolustussektorin hankkeita. Aikana, jolloin eurooppalaisen puolustussektorin kehittyminen on välttämätöntä ja kiireellistä, vanhat säännökset estävät olemassaolevien työkalujen, kuten EIP:n lainoitusmahdollisuuksien käyttämistä. EU-parlamentti asettui ehdotukseni pohjalta tukemaan säännösten muuttamista. Nyt samaa odotetaan valtionpäämiehiä edustavalta neuvostolta”, hän summaa.
Heinäluoman oma puheenvuoro eurovaalien vaikutuksesta Euroopan tulevaisuudelle ja Ukrainan tuelle on tänään torstaina 21.3. Kiovan turvallisuusfoorumissa.
“Turvallisuudesta tulee ensimmäistä kertaa EU-vaalien historiassa myös vaalikeskustelujen tärkeä teema. On syytä laajassa rintamassa toimia sen hyväksi, että EU-parlamentin tulevaa työtä määrittää EU:n ja Ukrainan suhteen syventämistä tukeva selkeä enemmistö”, Heinäluoma päättää.
Alta voit lukea Heinäluoman puheenvuoron englanniksi.
How will the elections to the European Parliament in 2024 affect the future of Europe and its support of Ukraine?
Thank you for the invitation to be here with you today.
This year’s forum is dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the signing of the political part of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. Just like it was ten years ago, it is today clear that Ukraine and the Ukrainian people have chosen their future and place in the European Union.
In the same way, the EU sees its own destiny as tied to the future and success of Ukraine. The decision in December of last year to open accession negotiations speaks volumes to the depth of the Union’s commitment to Ukraine’s place in our community.
The EU will provide all the support and assistance at its disposal for Ukraine to succeed in its path to membership. At the same time, it will be crucial for Ukraine to make progress in carrying out the necessary reforms in order to fulfil the accession criteria. Rather than waiting for political solutions, committing to a merit-based process is the best way to ensure Ukraine’s path to EU membership.
Similarly, in order to be ready to receive new members, the EU must also carry out its own reforms over the next parliamentary term. To achieve this, we will need a European Commission that places EU-reform and enlargement high on its political agenda.
In the European Parliament, our position is clear.
Our solidarity with the Ukrainian people and support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine remains unwavering. Ukraine has the full right to defend itself, and its citizens are showing an unwavering determination in resisting Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression.
While defending their own country and freedom, Ukrainians are at the same time fighting for the freedom of all peoples. The outcome of the war and the stance taken by the international community will have an enormous impact for the European continent and beyond – it will influence future action by other authoritarian regimes that are assessing their possibilities to exert aggressive foreign policies, including by military means.
Russia alone is responsible for the atrocities committed. All those responsible for the war of aggression and war crimes must be held accountable. The Parliament fully supports the ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court into war crimes, crimes against humanity and welcomes the establishment of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression in The Hague. Russia must pay reparations for the damage it has caused.
For the Parliament, it is clear that the objective is for Ukraine to win the war against Russia.
This can only be achieved through military support to Ukraine to allow it to defend itself against Russian attacks and regain full control over its internationally recognised territory. Since the beginning of the invasion, the Parliament has called for continued, sustained and accelerating supply of all types of weapons to Ukraine.
This is true especially concerning ammunition. We have called for an increase of the European Peace Facility to be used for single source procurement of available ammunition on the world market to meet Ukraine’s needs as well as called on Member States to enter into dialogue with defence companies in order to guarantee that the production and delivery of, especially ammunition, shells and missiles for Ukraine are prioritised over orders from other third countries.
To increase our production in order to meet Ukrainian needs, while also replenishing member states’ depleted stocks, it is crucial to ensure the necessary investment in the European defence industrial base. In this context, it is clear that we must use all the funding possibilities at our disposal – and here the European Investment Bank is no exception. It is evident that the EIB’s lending policy, currently allowing funding only of dual-use products, must be revised to meet a new reality.
I am therefore pleased that the Parliament took the initiative and called for a revision of the EIB’s lending policy in our plenary session in February. I negotiated the report on behalf of the S&D Group and pushed for it to include a call for the EIB to reform its eligibility list so that ammunition and military equipment that go beyond dual-use application would no longer be excluded from EIB financing.
The Commission picked up on this initiative and in the beginning of March invited the EIB to adapt defence-related exclusions from the Bank’s Lending Policies by taking all necessary steps to review its lending policy this year and to adapt it in line with current policy priorities and needs. This would allow the EIB to support production of military equipment and the European defence industry more generally.
Finally, this week, we saw that 14 member state leaders have come to the same position and now call for enhancing EIB financing for security and defence by re-evaluating current definitions of dual-use projects and the list of excluded activities. In the end, it will be up to the EIB board, consisting of the member states’ finance ministers. The decision is necessary – the EU must be prepared for the Russian threat not only now but also in the long run, even after Ukraine wins the war. I hope that a positive decision is taken sooner rather than later.
We have also called on the Council to maintain and extend its sanctions policy against Russia and Belarus, while monitoring, reviewing and enhancing their effectiveness and impact. At the same time, it is obvious that breaches of sanctions must be tackled more efficiently.
In our plenary session last week, the Parliament adopted new legislation to designate the violation of restrictive measures as a criminal offence. While the violation of sanctions has been a criminal offence in some member states, it is important that we will now have a uniform legal framework across the entire EU.
Together with designating sanctions violations as EU-crimes, we adopted also an updated legal framework for the recovery and confiscation of criminally obtained assets – meaning now also those assets obtained through the violation of sanctions. I worked on this in the Committee on Budgets and pushed for it to include also support to Ukraine.
The final adopted legal framework now includes this demand – it will now make it possible for member states to use the confiscated assets to contribute towards supporting third countries affected by situations in response to which Union restrictive measures have been adopted, when the offence is linked to that situation. This means that member states can leverage confiscated assets obtained through the violation of sanctions against Russia in order to support Ukraine.
The coming presidential elections in the US give reason for concern. It is clear that Donald Trump fails to understand what is at stake in Ukraine’s victory. Europe must therefore take more responsibility not only for its own defence, but also for the assistance and reconstruction of Ukraine. The upcoming European elections in June are important – both for the future of the EU, but also for that of Ukraine. Undoubtedly, security and continued support to Ukraine will be at the centre of the debate.
In democracies, voters set the direction for all decision-making. The outcome of the elections will not only determine the make-up of the European Parliament, but also set the direction for the new European Commission.
The S&D Group stands strongly behind Ukraine. So does the broad majority of the Parliament.
It can however not be left unsaid that several right-wing parties do not share this importance of supporting Ukraine. In fact, many of them seem to feel more sympathy for Putin than for Ukraine or Europe itself.
The Parliament has until now been a leading voice calling with a broad majority for stronger support for Ukraine. As touched upon before, many initiatives for supporting Ukraine and strengthening European defence are ideas that have originated with the European Parliament calling on the Commission and Member States to step up. We can only work hard in the campaign trails to ensure that this continues to be the case also in the next mandate after the elections.
