Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 13 June 2023 - Strasbourg

Humanitarian and environmental consequences of the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam - Sustainable reconstruction and integration of Ukraine into the Euro-Atlantic community (debate)

  Mick Wallace (The Left). – Mr President, the damage to Ukraine is devastating. Towns and cities that endured for hundreds of years do not exist anymore. We must recognise that these towns, cities and surrounding lands were long being stolen by local oligarchs colluding with global financial capital. This theft quickened with the onset of the war in 2014. The pro-Western government opened the doors wide for massive structural adjustment and privatisation programs spearheaded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the IMF and the World Bank. Zelenskyy used the current war to concentrate power and accelerate the carpet fire sale. He banned opposition parties that were resisting deeply unpopular reforms to the laws restricting the sale of land to foreign investors. Over 3 million hectares of agricultural land are now owned by companies based in Western tax havens. Ukraine’s mineral deposits alone are worth over USD 12 trillion. Western companies are licking their lips. What are the working class people...

(The President cut off the speaker)