MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the situation in Ukraine
12.1.2015 - (2014/2965(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 123(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Cristian Dan Preda, Elmar Brok, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Andrej Plenković, Sandra Kalniete, Jerzy Buzek, David McAllister, Esther de Lange, Michael Gahler, Ivo Belet, Daniel Caspary, Lorenzo Cesa, Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, Andrzej Grzyb, Tunne Kelam, Alojz Peterle, Eduard Kukan, Gabrielius Landsbergis, György Schöpflin, Traian Ungureanu, Davor Ivo Stier, Monica Macovei, Dubravka Šuica, László Tőkés, Jarosław Wałęsa, Bogdan Andrzej Zdrojewski, Michał Boni, Michaela Šojdrová, Mariya Gabriel, Claude Rolin, Agnieszka Kozłowska-Rajewicz, Joachim Zeller, Giovanni La Via, Barbara Matera, Pascal Arimont, Ivana Maletić, Andrea Bocskor on behalf of the PPE Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B8-0008/2015
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on the European Neighbourhood Policy, on the Eastern Partnership (EaP) and on Ukraine, with particular reference to its resolution of 18 September 2014 on the situation in Ukraine and the state of play of EU-Russia relations[1],
– having regard to the preliminary findings of OSCE/ODHIR on the early parliamentary election in Ukraine of 26 October 2014,
– having regard to the UN report on serious human rights violations in eastern Ukraine of 20 November 2014 and to the Human Rights Watch report of November 2014 on abuses in Crimea,
– having regard to the joint statement of the NATO-Ukraine Commission of 2 December 2014,
– having regard to the statement by the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, after his telephone call with the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, of 3 December 2014,
– having regard to the outcome of the first Association Council meeting between the EU and Ukraine on 15 December 2014,
– having regard to the Council conclusions on Ukraine of 18 December 2014 and further restrictive measures applied on 28 November 2014,
– having regard to Rule 123(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the early parliamentary election of 26 October 2014 was deemed an amply contested election that offered voters real choice and a general respect for fundamental freedoms, with an impartial and efficient Central Election Commission;
B. whereas the new government is formed by pro-European forces, including the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko, Batkivshchyna, the People’s Front under Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, and the Samopomoc and Radical parties, and has a constitutional majority to drive reforms forward;
C. whereas the established pro-European majority has adopted the coalition agreement laying grounds for a rigorous reform process aimed at fostering further European integration;
D. whereas Ukraine has now been given a unique opportunity to modernise, develop, prosper, establish a genuine democracy and rule of law, and develop constitutional changes as proposed in the Poroshenko peace plan;
E. whereas the Minsk agreements of 5 and 19 September still lack implementation, are unilaterally implemented by Ukraine and regularly violated by Russia-backed separatists;
F. whereas the agreed ceasefire continues to be violated;
G. whereas the Russian Federation has sent numerous humanitarian convoys pretending to be humanitarian, which had no approval from the Ukraine Government and were not inspected beforehand by international humanitarian organisations;
H. whereas according to NATO, military equipment and Russian combat troops crossed the border and entered Ukraine, and Russian bomber jets regularly violate the airspace of the EU Member States;
I. whereas additional restrictive measures were adopted against separatists operating in eastern Ukraine, including 13 additional persons and 5 entities involved in actions against Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including the organisation of an illegal vote in Donbas on 2 November 2014;
J. whereas according to a UN report 4 317 people have been killed and 9 921 wounded in the conflict-affected areas of eastern Ukraine, including nearly 1 000 since the ceasefire agreement in Minsk of 5 September 2014;
K. whereas the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula was the first case of a forceful change of borders and incorporation of a part of one country into another in Europe since World War II;
L. whereas this conflict revives the tragic memories of years long gone when democracy and freedom could not be taken for granted;
M. whereas the United States’ Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 was signed into law by President Barack Obama on 18 December 2014; whereas closer EU-US cooperation in Ukraine-related policies would be beneficial;
N. whereas the Ukrainian Parliament voted on 23 December 2014 to renounce the country’s non-aligned status; whereas closer EU-Ukraine and Ukraine-NATO relations should be supported;
1. Welcomes the strong political commitment of President Poroshenko, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and Speaker Groysman to work together and enhance the rigorous reform process;
2. Calls on the EU institutions to provide a strong and effective answer to the crisis, in which freedom, democracy, sovereignty, territorial integrity and the rule of law are neglected by Russia; acknowledges that a response based on appeasement would encourage Russia to expand the hybrid war tactics to other countries;
3. Strongly condemns Russia’s aggressive and expansionist policy, which constitutes a threat to the unity and independence of Ukraine and to the EU itself, and its military intervention and occupation of Ukrainian territory, including the illegal annexation of Crimea, which is in breach of international law and Russia’s own commitments resulting from the UN Charter, the OSCE Helsinki Final Act, the Budapest Memorandum of 5 December 1994 and the Minsk agreements of 5 September 2014; underlines that there is no argument for the use of military force in Europe in defence of so-called historical and security reasons or for the protection of one’s so-called ‘compatriots living abroad’; demands that Russia fulfil its own obligations and make every effort to implement these agreements in full and good faith with a view to paving the way for a genuine peace process;
4. Recognises that, by providing support for Ukraine, the EU also ensures its long-term security; stresses that EU diplomatic efforts must be coupled with a determination to de-escalate the conflict while remaining firm on European values; recognises that the EU must be ready to support bordering Member States, which should be given the same level of security as all Member States;
5. Calls on the EU to maintain its restrictive measures against Russian individuals and separatists and entities responsible for the destabilisation of the region, in particular at the upcoming Council meeting in March 2015, for as long as Russia fails to fully respect and deliver on its Minsk obligations, including in particular the full and unconditional withdrawal from Ukraine of all Russian troops, illegal armed groups, military equipment, militants and mercenaries, the permanent monitoring and verification of the Ukraine-Russian border by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and the exchange of all prisoners, including Nadiya Savchenko, and does not change its course of action in Ukraine; in the case of any further Russian actions destabilising Ukraine, invites the European Council to take up further restrictive measures, and broaden their scope by covering the nuclear sector and by limiting the ability of Russian entities to conduct international financial transactions;
6. Stresses that the political and diplomatic channels towards Russia must stay open in order to enable diplomatic solutions to the conflict, and therefore supports formats such as Geneva and Normandy if tangible results can be achieved;
7. Stresses that the European Parliament organised an election observation mission for the early parliamentary election of 26 October 2014 in Ukraine, which concluded, along with other international organisations, that the elections were conducted in accordance with internationally recognised standards despite the demanding circumstances; welcomes the result of the early parliamentary election of 26 October 2014 and the adoption of an ambitious reform agenda by the pro-reformist and pro-European government; outlines that the Ukrainian authorities have received double legitimacy this year through the presidential and parliamentary elections to pursue reforms swiftly with determination to modernise and develop their country;
8. Stresses that the implementation of the AA/DCFTA should constitute the roadmap for swift necessary reforms that need to be urgently implemented, despite the difficult war environment in parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts; reiterates the potential gains of AA/DCFTA implementation for Russia, through increased trade and economic activities and a more stable neighbourhood; stresses that Russia has no grounds to criticise the EU-Ukraine Agreement or to react with unjustified trade restrictions and military aggression; outlines the importance of deep and comprehensive economic, social and political reforms on the basis of social market economy, including an independent judiciary, the rule of law, strengthening of transparency and the fight against endemic corruption; reiterates its readiness to offer support in implementation of those necessary reforms;
9. Stands ready to step up the involvement of the European Parliament in supporting the work of the Verkhovna Rada on European affairs; underlines that the activities of the future Parliamentary Association Committee should aim at strengthening democracy and visibility of the EU in Ukraine and could provide a framework for bilateral assistance by the parliaments of the Member States;
10. Calls for swifter and more substantial technical assistance by the Commission’s ‘Ukraine Support Group’, including deployment of advisers from EU institutions and Member States; emphasises that such assistance is crucial, as reforms can only be effectively implemented when administrative capacities are strengthened; calls on the Ukrainian authorities to set up an EU Integration and Assistance Coordination Ministry or Office, and a high-level interministerial coordination committee, which would be vested with powers to effectively monitor and supervise the progress of EU approximation and reforms and would be able to prepare and coordinate their implementation;
11. Calls upon the Ukrainian leadership to eradicate systematic corruption by establishing the politically independent Anti-Corruption Bureau, equipped with sufficient competences and resources to enable it to significantly contribute to building well-functioning state institutions;
12. Recalls that on 16 July 2014 the Council of the European Union lifted the arms embargo on Ukraine, and thus there are now no objections, including legal restrictions, to Member States providing defensive arms to Ukraine, which could be based on a ‘lend-lease’ type of arrangement; considers that the immediate task is to strengthen Ukraine’s defence capabilities as requested by its authorities, and that the EU should explore ways to support the Ukrainian Government in enhancing its defence capabilities and protection of its external borders, based on the experience of the transformation of the armed forces of the former Warsaw Pact EU Member States, especially within the framework of training missions already provided for armed forces in other parts of the world;
13. Calls upon the European Commission and Commissioner Hahn to prepare and present to the European Parliament within two months a communication strategy to counter the Russian propaganda campaign directed towards the EU, its Eastern neighbours and Russia itself, and to develop instruments that would allow the EU and its Member States to address the propaganda campaign at European and national level;
14. Stresses the need to strengthen Ukrainian civil society as an effective watchdog and whistle-blower and to assist authorities in delivering on their promise of reforms;
15. Calls upon the Commission to develop a European Marshall Plan for Ukraine, which would support the newly formed pro-European government and its reform agenda; recommends that this plan include the priorities, tangible benchmarks and the timeline for implementation, allowing the financial aid to be linked to concrete reform sectors; welcomes the 11 bn EUR support package for Ukraine to be disbursed over the next few years, including macro financial assistance and the loans from the IMF, the World Bank and the EU-based international financial institutions; welcomes the proposal of the Commission to extend an additional 1.8 billion EUR in medium-term loans to Ukraine and calls for reprofiling of Ukraine’s debt; calls upon the active involvement of the expert community in Ukraine as well as experts from the EU to contribute by providing independent expertise and by monitoring the process of the reform implementation;
16. Welcomes the launch of the EU Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Reform in Ukraine, which is to facilitate the establishment of efficient, trusted civilian security institutions, including police and civilian security services, public prosecution and courts;
17. Calls for greater unity and cooperation among Member States and its Eastern Partners; calls for the EU to update its security strategy and enhance coordination with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) to effectively respond to the new security challenges; welcomes the fact that during the last NATO summit the Allies reaffirmed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity; acknowledges that Ukraine is facing an undeclared hybrid war, blending elements of cyber warfare, use of regular and irregular forces, propaganda, economic pressure, energy blackmail, diplomacy and political destabilisation;
18. Invites the Ukrainian Government and the international community to cooperate towards convening a Donor Conference as well as an investor conference, which would allow for the provision of additional financial support, as well as know-how and best practices, to various sectors;
19. Stresses the importance of energy security in Ukraine; welcomes the agreement between the EU, Russia and Ukraine under the leadership of the former EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger on the winter package to secure gas delivery from Russia until March 2015; condemns the statement by the Russian Energy Minister, Aleksander Novak, saying that the trilateral agreement is not of binding nature, and calls upon the Russian Federation to further cooperate in a spirit of good faith; calls on the Ukrainian authorities to increase Ukraine’s energy efficiency in order to make the best use of its resources; calls on the EU to pursue a genuine Common External Energy Policy as well as the creation of a European Energy Union; encourages the full enforcement of the internal common energy market, including the 3rd energy package and the indiscriminate pursuit of the pending court case against Gazprom;
20. Stresses that priority must be given to pipeline projects which diversify the energy supply to the EU and hence agrees with the stopping of the South Stream project; invites the European Energy Community to develop a cooperation agenda with Ukraine, as well as with South Caucasus, Central Asia, Middle East and Mediterranean countries, aiming at developing infrastructure and interconnectivity between the EU and its European neighbours independently from Russian gas geopolitics; acknowledges that stable gas supplies to Ukraine are also critical to ensuring Member States’ energy security;
21. Expresses its deep concern with regard to the violations of human rights in eastern Ukraine and in Crimea, which is under illegal annexation, where the Tatars and other minorities, in particular religious minorities, are subject to targeted human rights violations, due to the total breakdown of law and order, and calls for the establishment and the sending of an independent observation mission in this regard, as requested by the official representatives of the Crimean Tatars; outlines the importance of accountability and the end of impunity as core elements for promoting peace, reconciliation and long-term recovery; invites the EU to continue projects in Crimea aimed at civil society and democracy support in Ukraine;
22. Stresses the need for the EU, along with the Ukrainian authorities, to devote further attention to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and to address the catastrophic humanitarian situation, in particular the situation of Internally Displaced Persons; calls on the European Commission and Commissioner Stylianides to prepare robust, direct and long overdue humanitarian action, omitting intermediary organisations, in the form of ‘Blue Convoy’ type humanitarian action clearly marked as coming from the EU; calls upon the European Commission to present such a plan of action to the European Parliament within the next two months; stresses the need for further EU financial assistance for Ukraine to cope with the dire humanitarian crisis;
23. Calls on the EU to continue to insist that all parties involved guarantee continued, safe and unrestricted access to the MH17 crash site, and give access to all other relevant resources that can contribute to the investigation; outlines the moral duty and legal obligation to fully investigate the events and bring those responsible to justice;
24. Stresses that the work of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission is of crucial importance for reducing tensions and to help foster peace, stability and security; stresses, however, that its effects on the ground must be stepped up in order to provide effective control and verification of the Ukrainian-Russian border while upholding the objectivity of its actions; believes that the EU should deploy, if requested by the Ukrainian authorities, an EU monitoring mission to contribute to effective control and monitoring of the Ukrainian-Russian border; recommends that cooperation with other Eastern Partnership countries be enhanced in the framework of the CSDP;
25. Calls upon High Representative Mogherini and Commissioner Hahn to undertake steps within their power to facilitate a political solution to the Ukraine crisis that would be respected by all the parties involved; emphasises that such a solution must avoid a frozen conflict scenario in East Ukraine and Crimea;
26. Calls upon the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee to establish good cooperation with corresponding bodies in Ukraine, as strong self-government in Ukraine and efficient public actors would enhance national unity and build a consolidated local democracy;
27. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine, the Council of Europe, and the President, Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.
- [1] Texts adopted, P8_TA(2014)0025.