Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, on behalf of the PPE Group. – Mr President, if tomorrow’s Minsk II last-chance talks fail to bring credible peace in the face of the naked war by Russia against Ukraine and the mountains of lies and broken promises, it will at last be time to move away from the logic of persuasion to the logic of deterrence.

The EU has shown angelic patience and indulgence – and the word ‘angelic’ comes from the name Angela – but we have reached our limits. Quantitative and qualitative change in our action is needed because so far we have been doing too little, too late. Enhancing Ukrainian defence capabilities would create incentives for Russia to back down. On the contrary, the Russian military advantage over Ukraine openly invites Russia to continue the invasion, as we are witnessing.

Ukraine has the right to defend itself. We have the responsibility to protect the victim against the aggressor in the name of our values. If we surrender our values, we ourselves will be in danger. The crisis in Ukraine is indeed about our own future and our own security. We may wish for there to be a diplomatic solution, but a military solution by Russia is taking place before our eyes. In order to achieve a political solution, leverage is needed to bring the aggressor to true – not Potemkin-village type – negotiations and to bring binding and executable results. The time has come to apply reverse logic, increase leverage through pressure, increase economic sanctions against Russia and close the gap in Russia’s military advantage – the gap between invader and victim – in order to achieve a peaceful solution in the end.

(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 162(8))