While the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is making top headlines, journalists and diplomats are concentrated on the question of Russian security and that of NATO member countries and the European Union. For the EU and NATO the focus is on the defense of principles that they consider to be central to international law and order – the principles of territorial integrity and the freedom of choice in international alliances.
When Russian canons stand aimed at Kyiv, Europe has a date with history!
The autocratic governments of Belarus and Russia bully their peoples. We must address these peoples, not the governments whose dictator-leaders cause suffering to populations who are as European as us.
We call upon the citizens of the entire European continent to reclaim the roots inherited from Athens and Rome, from Christianity and the enlightenment!
For Kyiv, with its heritage from both the eastern and western empires, from Rome and Byzantium, we ask the EU to show itself worthy of its founding fathers – Monnet, Schuman, De Gasperi, and Adenauer – and to repeat the kind of achievements reached in less than one year, only five years after the horror for second world war – the creation of the European Coal and Steel Union!
We call upon the EU to begin immediately the process of bringing Ukraine into the European Union. In doing so, we will demonstrate the solidarity of the people of Europe not only with Ukraine but also with the people of Russia and Belarus!
We call upon the Union to take the same unflinching course it took with Cyprus, in admitting the island into the EU.
The European Union should ensure that for Russia and Belarus this would not be a definitive cutting off, but a step that ultimately allows the peoples of those countries to develop a common sense of belonging to the continent of Europe.
What we are asking is feasible. It took East Germany only one year to join the European Union thanks to the great statesman Helmut Kohl!
This call from Kyiv is addressed to European Institutions – to the President of European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the President of the Council of Europe, Charles Michel, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Social and Economic Committee, Christa Schweng, to the President of the European Committee of Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas.
It is also addressed to the heads of all European governments and notably to President Macron since France is currently leading the Council of the European Union.
Certain EU member states have already taken some brave decisions. Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, France, and Poland have decided to supply both civil and military equipment to Ukraine, while Denmark, the Netherlands, and Spain have pledged to strengthen their military presence in the region. France is preparing to do the same in Rumania.
While these developments around the creation of deterrents are positive, there is a risk that they will be insufficient to ensure Ukraine’s stability in the short to medium term.
This crisis is a historic opportunity for President Emmanuel Macron, as President of the Council of the European Union, to make the EU a truly strategic force. If in 2015 the EU recognized “the European aspirations of Ukraine” and welcomed the country’s “European choice” the moment has now come to give Ukraine a realistic perspective of integration into the Union by immediately starting negotiations on accession.
Professor (h.c.) Olivier VÉDRINE, political scientist, journalist, writer, chief editor of Russian Monitor https://rusmonitor.com/ , member of the Steering Committee of the Association Jean Monnet.
