The new composition of the European Parliament at a meeting on Wednesday, July 17, approved a resolution in support of Ukraine and condemned the foreign policy of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán.
This is reported in the press release of the European Parliament.
The resolution, voted for by 495 out of 679 MEPs, supports Ukraineʼs sovereignty and independence, supports its territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders (as of 1991), and calls on EU members to continue military, financial and other assistance to Ukraine.
The resolution calls on the EU to maintain and expand its sanctions policy against Russia and Belarus and to address the issue of sanctions circumvention by EU-based companies in third countries.
The deputies also condemned Hungaryʼs abuse of its presidency of the EU Council and called on it to lift the blockade of financing Ukraine from the European Peace Fund. The text of the resolution contains a condemnation of Orbánʼs actions, because he did not agree with the EU on his visit to Russia and violated the principle of the blocʼs common foreign policy. Given that the so-called peacekeeping mission was followed by a rocket attack on the Ohmatdyt Childrenʼs Hospital, the resolution says that this shows the "irrelevance" of Orbánʼs alleged peace efforts.
Why is this resolution important?
The resolution in support of Ukraine became the first document adopted by the European Parliament after the June elections. In this composition of the parliament, the number of far-right MEPs and groups that are skeptical of supporting Ukraine has increased, and some are generally in favor of stopping it. All of them mostly joined the new far-right bloc of the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán Patriots of Europe — there is the Belgian Flemish Interest, the Hungarian right-wing party Fidesz, the Austrian far-right Freedom Party, the Czech centrist party ANO, the Dutch far-right Party for Freedom of Geert Wilders, Portugalʼs Chega and Spainʼs right-wing party Vox.
The majority in the EU Parliament will be formed by moderate right-wing centrists, social democrats and liberals who remain committed to supporting Ukraine.
Author: Denys Podobriy