To the President of the European Council, Charles Michel
To the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen
To the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Joseph Borrell
Russia has invaded Ukraine.
The tragedy of the indiscriminate bombing of civilian homes in ukranian cities is underway: from Spetsnaz to Kharkiv, from Ivano-Frankovsk to Mariupol, from Odessa to Kiev, now besieged by Russian forces.
One hundred thousand people are already displaced and fleeing the country. Huge waves of refugees are anticipated throughout Europe. According to some estimates, they will be 5 million.
The population no longer knows where to hide and many have taken refuge even in subway wagons.
The war of propaganda is flanking the war of arms and the world watches in disbelief as the post-Cold War world order collapses, together with the security system in Europe and its international institutions. This is a well-known goal of Moscow, which disdains the liberal order. Russia aims at redesigning the post-Soviet world order to regain its lost role of great power on the world stage, crushing sovereign countries. Putin has been launching for years, and in recent months with an impressive “crescendo”, an extreme propagandistic ideologization of his ultimate demands against the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union: with disinformation, activities of destabilization and political influence aimed at all the most important and recent electoral consultations and referenda (like Brexit), which could weaken the institutions and the pillars of our democracies.
By wiping out every agreement, every convention and international treaty, Moscow is highlighting the irrelevance of the United Nations, established after World War II, and its Security Council, which is systematically blocked by the vetoes of Russia and China when it comes to issues deemed “sensitive” for their respective totalitarian regimes.
Even in this case, the UN has shown a chronic and structural inability to deal with crises, limiting itself simply to formal and unrealistic appeals.
The European Union does not yet have a common security and defense system.
Even NATO appears hesitant to deploy an adequate defense system on its eastern flank in a timely manner to protect its member states.
The hesitations of NATO countries, of Brussels and the UN, are representative of the impotence of the West towards those who make waste paper of every principle, rule and international treaty with the force of arms.
After the dissolution of the USSR, on December 26, 1991, NATO and the EU, could only respond positively to the continuous requests of democratically elected governments that were anxious to consolidate, at last, their free institutions and societies and to guarantee their own security after decades of “limited sovereignty” because of the Union. However, by encompassing some Eastern European countries, NATO and the EU had ended up creating a security dilemma for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. By being kept out, these countries found themselves in no man’s land with an uninterested Europe on one side and Russia reaching out on the other side.
Therefore, in their foreign policy they were forced to look both to the West and to the East.
After the “Euromaidan” revolution, in 2014 Ukraine was invaded by Russia, which had effectively annexed Crimea and supported pro-Russian independence rebels in the Donbas.
Belarus, with Lukashenko, turned eastward, after having quelled the pro-European demonstrations of 2021.
Nevertheless, in Ukraine the pro-European dream was not extinguished. Until the day before the invasion, demonstrations were held weekly for the freedom and independence of the country and for their desire for Europe.
Kiev sees its salvation exclusively within NATO and the European Union. This was reiterated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former presidents Viktor Juščenko and Petro Porošenko, who had signed the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine on June 27, 2014.
The former Soviet country’s accession to the European Union has therefore always been considered a fundamental goal to be achieved by Ukraine’s leading politicians. At the same time, any rapprochement with Europe was hindered by pro-Russian politicians, such as former President Viktor Janukovyč.
According to a poll by the Ukrainian Rating Group institute, published on February 17, 2022, 68% of Ukrainians support EU membership.
Currently, Ukraine is part of the European Neighborhood Policy and cooperates with the European Union in the framework of the Eastern Partnership. In fact, the country has aligned much of its legislation and economic policies with the Association Agreement with the European Union, which entered into force in 2017.
In February 2019, Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s unicameral parliament, had included in the Constitution the path to NATO and EU membership.
A decidedly pro-European charter that in its preamble refers to the “european identity of ukrainian people characterizing as irreversible the euroatlantic path of the country” and in art. 102 it amplifies the powers of the head of state, who assumes the role of “guarantor” of the implementation of the country’s strategic path to acquire full membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Ukraine was preparing to submit an official application for EU membership in 2024, with the goal of joining in 2030.
It is within this framework of strong pro-European impetus that the popular demonstrations of Euromaidan should be framed. They began on the night of November 21, 2013 in Kiev, which was already the scene of the Orange Revolution in 2004, against President Viktor Janukovyč. He had refused to sign the association agreement of Ukraine with the European Union, because of the pressure of Moscow. Russia had offered, in exchange for waiving the signature, a substantial loan in government bonds worth 15 billion dollars, tying the two countries even more.
Janukovyč was accused by his parliament and fled to Russia. Before that, more than a hundred protesters were slaughtered, many of them wrapped in the Union flag, when the president gave the order to evacuate Independence Square in Kiev through force.
This criminal aggression, prearranged long before and carried out with constant falsity and deception by President Putin, requires an immediate, strong and demanding decision by Europe: Ukraine must be granted, immediately, the “status of candidate country for the accession to the European Union” with all the prerogatives that this entails for the legitimate Government and legitimate democratic institutions that currently lead the country.
This is a valuable political contribution that Europe can provide in these hours for the citizens of a country where the Europeanist fire is always burning; even in a country partly amputated of territory by the Russian invader.
A joint statement by the presidents of Poland, Slovenia and Lithuania states that Ukraine deserves the status of candidate country to the EU.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Polish and Lithuanian counterparts, Andrzej Duda and Gitanas Nauseda, met in Kiev on Wednesday, February 23, to discuss the crisis and reaffirm their solidarity.
The joint statement reads: “Given the significant progress in the implementation of the Association Agreement and internal reforms, as well as the current security challenges, Ukraine deserves EU candidate status and Lithuania and Poland will support it on its way to achieve this goal.”
Enlargement is the most powerful foreign policy tool that the EU has. Recent history proves this.
The EU offered a prospect of membership to the Western Balkan countries in May 1999, at the height of the Kosovo war.
It seemed crazy, but since then, Europe has entered the agenda of the Western Balkans and, although it was too hesitant to let them in through the door, it remained a model and a reference.
No European country is more determined than Ukraine in approaching the Union, but it was stopped before being admitted to the accession process because of the short-sightedness of our political leaders. They were too busy putting their own narrow electoral interests first.
We, therefore, believe that the time has come to officially recognize the status of Ukraine as a candidate country to the European Union and activate the accession process of a country that has paid dearly for its thirst for freedom and its strong Europeanist aspiration.
We believe that this is a strong signal of an open and inclusive European Union, a fundamental reference of values and human rights that as such are universal: the natural right, historically acquired, of each individual to freedom, democracy and an international order based on peace and the rule of law.
We call for an urgent convocation of the European Council. On the agenda: the path for Ukraine’s accession to the EU, so that it can promptly adapt its internal order to the communitary acquis by implementing all the necessary reforms, especially in the field of justice and the fight against corruption, to strengthen the rule of law.
The European Union has the urgence and need to assume the role of power, and above all a political one by equipping itself with a security and defense system worthy of a great democratic state with its economic and cultural strength of absolute value.
We ask that the European Council urgently puts the construction of a solid architecture of security and common defense on its agenda. This is to honor the founding fathers Spinelli, De Gasperi, Monnet, Schuman and Adenauer. Otherwise, their dream will vanish at the dawn of a sad awakening.
Maurizio Turco, Segretario del Partito Radicale
Irene Testa, Tesoriere del Partito Radicale
Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, Presidente d’onore del Partito Radicale
Mariano Giustino, Corrispondente di Radio Radicale dalla Turchia
1,087 | Светлана Кирсанова | Безработная | Бордо | Франция | Jan 08, 2023 | ||||
1,086 | Nicola Cantisani | Brussels | Belgium | Dec 31, 2022 | |||||
1,085 | turano palmieri | ingegnere | Abbadia San Salvatore (SI) | Italy | Dec 24, 2022 | ||||
1,084 | Irene Fusi | Torino | Italia | Dec 20, 2022 | |||||
1,083 | Dea Anna Gatta | Andorno Micca | Italia | Dec 17, 2022 | |||||
1,082 | Daniela Cococcia | Bancaria | L’aquila | Italia | Nov 27, 2022 | ||||
1,081 | Alessandro Greco | impiegato | Padova | Italy | Nov 21, 2022 | ||||
1,080 | Lorenzo Gabutti | Programmista | RAI | Roma, Italy | Italia | Nov 13, 2022 | |||
1,079 | Lucia Murgia | Tecnico di laboratorio | Senago | Italia | Nov 12, 2022 | ||||
1,078 | Gioacchino Ruocco | Bologna | Italy | Nov 09, 2022 | |||||
1,077 | Enrico MANUNZA | pensionato | Piossasco | ITALIA | Nov 07, 2022 | ||||
1,076 | Davide Consoli | Researcher | Torino | Italy | Nov 07, 2022 | ||||
1,075 | Massimiliano Boscolo | Agente di commercio | Tavagnacco (UD) | Italy | Nov 04, 2022 | ||||
1,074 | Ugo De Piante Vicin | Pensione | Milano | Italia | Oct 30, 2022 | ||||
1,073 | Niccolò RINALDI | brussels | Belgium | Oct 24, 2022 | |||||
1,072 | Enrico Modigliani | Pensionato b | Roma | Italia m | Oct 22, 2022 | ||||
1,071 | Marco Boato | Sociologo | Trento | Italia | Oct 09, 2022 | ||||
1,070 | Sofia Marchiafava | Roma | Italia | Oct 07, 2022 | |||||
1,069 | paolo allegrezza | docente | roma | italia | Oct 05, 2022 | ||||
1,068 | Alessia Pelagatti | Pensionata | Via Martiri di Cefalonia | Pescara | Italia | Oct 05, 2022 | |||
1,067 | Franca Delle Lenti | Pensionata | Via Palizzi 9 | Pescara | Italia | Oct 05, 2022 | |||
1,066 | Vincenza Ventimiglia | Docente | Bagheria | Italia | Oct 02, 2022 | ||||
1,065 | Ugo Poli | Project Manager | Trieste | Italia | Sep 25, 2022 | ||||
1,064 | Maria Vittoria cosentino | Pensionata | Roma | Italia | Sep 19, 2022 | ||||
1,063 | Fernand Samsa | Schlitz | Deutschland | Sep 15, 2022 | |||||
1,062 | Adriano Bilardi | Verona | Italia | Sep 11, 2022 | |||||
1,061 | Luigi Miserendino | Italia | Sep 04, 2022 | ||||||
1,060 | Alberto Zaccagnini | Self-empoyed Tourist Guide, translator, teacher of Italian for foreigners | Florence | Italy | Aug 31, 2022 | ||||
1,059 | Aloisia Felici | Imprenditore | Imprenditore | Genzano di roma | Italia | Aug 28, 2022 | |||
1,058 | Oleksii Filipov | Impiegato | Livorno | Italia | Aug 20, 2022 | ||||
1,057 | paolo salerno | impiegato | Cerveteri | Italia | Aug 18, 2022 | ||||
1,056 | Claudio Zuliani | tirocinante | Cordenons | Italia | Aug 15, 2022 | ||||
1,055 | stefano zottele | Genova | Italia | Aug 15, 2022 | |||||
1,054 | Fausto Forti | Bologna | Italia | Aug 12, 2022 | |||||
1,053 | Daniele Paini | Parma | Italia | Aug 12, 2022 | |||||
1,052 | Franco Avati | Verona | Italia | Aug 12, 2022 | |||||
1,051 | Bruno Bazzani | Aug 10, 2022 | |||||||
1,050 | Bianca De Maio | London | United Kingdom | Aug 07, 2022 | |||||
1,049 | Lionello Gasparini | Italia | Aug 07, 2022 | ||||||
1,048 | Eduardo Libero Melfi | docente universitario in pensione | CT – Catania | Italy | Jul 31, 2022 | ||||
1,047 | Silvana Beretta | Assistente Socio Sanitaria | Cesano Boscone (MI) | Italia | Jul 31, 2022 | ||||
1,046 | vittorio giugni | pensionato | prato | Italia | Jul 31, 2022 | ||||
1,045 | Alessandra Casciani | Insegnante | Viterbo | Germania | Jul 24, 2022 | ||||
1,044 | Francesco Cuccù | Köln | Germany | Jul 24, 2022 | |||||
1,043 | Paolo Ferrari | Autore della fotografia | Cittadino italiano | Roma | Italia | Jul 24, 2022 | |||
1,042 | Franco Garelli | Aprilia | Italia | Jul 17, 2022 | |||||
1,041 | Roberto Collodel | pensionato | Conegliano | Italia | Jul 15, 2022 | ||||
1,040 | Renato Di Lorenzo | Genova | Italia | Jul 15, 2022 | |||||
1,039 | Massimo Lostia | Impiegato | Sig. | Monza | Italia | Jul 12, 2022 | |||
1,038 | sebastiano sardo | Banco BPM | impiegato | siracusa | Italia | Jul 08, 2022 | |||
1,037 | maria vittoria cosentino | Pensionata | Roma | Italia | Jul 05, 2022 | ||||
1,036 | Francesco Cisternino | Costantinopoli | Turchia | Jul 03, 2022 | |||||
1,035 | Maria Teresa Dal Monte | 40026 Imola | Italia | Jun 26, 2022 | |||||
1,034 | renato buratti | Jun 24, 2022 | |||||||
1,033 | Giovanna Nobile | pensionata | Mortegliano | Italia | Jun 20, 2022 | ||||
1,032 | Paolo DAnselmi | Ingegnere | Modugno | Italy | Jun 17, 2022 | ||||
1,031 | massimo pesenti campagnoni | medico | sarre | Italia | Jun 16, 2022 | ||||
1,030 | GIANNI GIRARDI | ALTISSIMO | ITALIA | Jun 15, 2022 | |||||
1,029 | Emma Monticelli | Opera | Italia | Jun 14, 2022 | |||||
1,028 | MARIA MANGIONE | RETIRED | Genzano di Roma (RM) | ITALIA | Jun 12, 2022 | ||||
1,027 | Hannelore Grass | pensionata | Rosignano Solvay | Italia | Jun 07, 2022 | ||||
1,026 | Donatella D’Angelo | Torino | Italia | Jun 04, 2022 | |||||
1,025 | Rita Eva Mastrorilli | Milano | Italy | May 08, 2022 | |||||
1,024 | Marisa Rosa | Vicenza | Italia | May 07, 2022 | |||||
1,023 | Annalisa Segoloni | Perugia | Italia | May 06, 2022 | |||||
1,022 | Umberto Ginestra | Giornalista | Dr | Palermo | Italia | May 06, 2022 | |||
1,021 | Roberto Bavoso | Roma | Italia | May 05, 2022 | |||||
1,020 | Paolo Stanzani | Pensionato | pensionato | Bologna | Italia | May 04, 2022 | |||
1,019 | Franco Gruppioni | retired | 40037sasso marconi | Italy | May 01, 2022 | ||||
1,018 | Vincenza Piras Rossano | Torino | Italia | Apr 30, 2022 | |||||
1,017 | Marianna Rinaldi | Torino | Italia | Apr 30, 2022 | |||||
1,016 | Gennaro Salvati | Torino | Italia | Apr 30, 2022 | |||||
1,015 | Franco Dell’Ernia | Torino | Italy | Apr 30, 2022 | |||||
1,014 | alberto Molteni | genova | Italia | Apr 28, 2022 | |||||
1,013 | sStefania Yermoshenko | Roma | Italia | Apr 25, 2022 | |||||
1,012 | Gianluca Calzetta | Medico | Napoli | Italia | Apr 25, 2022 | ||||
1,011 | Fabio Patrito | Apr 24, 2022 | |||||||
1,010 | Mauro Barbiero | Tecnico | VICENZA | ITALIA | Apr 18, 2022 | ||||
1,009 | Giovanni Cerutti | Architetto | Turin | Italia | Apr 18, 2022 | ||||
1,008 | Giorgio Pasetto | Verona | Italy | Apr 18, 2022 | |||||
1,007 | Maria Pia Battista | pensionata | Perugia | Perugia | Apr 18, 2022 | ||||
1,006 | nader fekri | Argentina | Apr 18, 2022 | ||||||
1,005 | Francesco Punzi | Italia | Apr 17, 2022 | ||||||
1,004 | Andrea Silvestro | Torino | Italia | Apr 16, 2022 | |||||
1,003 | Pietro Esposito | Sassari | Italia | Apr 16, 2022 | |||||
1,002 | Andrea Maori | Ricercatore, archivista | Perugia | Italia | Apr 16, 2022 | ||||
1,001 | Matteo Grosso | Loano | Italia | Apr 16, 2022 | |||||
1,000 | Gloria Pomponio | Torino | Italia | Apr 16, 2022 | |||||
999 | Andrea Bocca | Torino | Italia | Apr 16, 2022 | |||||
998 | Liudmyla Mezhenna | Kiev | Ukraine | Apr 16, 2022 | |||||
997 | Marharyta Mezhenna | Kiev | Ukraine | Apr 16, 2022 | |||||
996 | Andrea Frassà | Torino | Italia | Apr 16, 2022 | |||||
995 | Maira Bonzano | Torino | Italia | Apr 16, 2022 | |||||
994 | Gian Luigi Morotti | Savignano sul Panaro | Italia | Apr 15, 2022 | |||||
993 | Leda Colamartino | Apr 13, 2022 | |||||||
992 | Jan Lundius | Bjarnum | Svezia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
991 | Enrico Salvatori | Roma | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
990 | Sofia Dzhumaieva | Cerkasy | Ukraine | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
989 | Andrii Dzhumaiev | Cherkasy | Ukraine | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
988 | Elvira Ianova | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||||
987 | Yullia Vlasenko | Odessa | Ukraine | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
986 | Giovanna Biancardi | Roma | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
985 | Roberta Zunini | Roma | Italy | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
984 | Deborah Blocker | Anvers | Francia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
983 | Andrei Valentin Miron | Roma | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
982 | Renato Santoboni | Roma | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
981 | Yevgen Lysenkov | Roma | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
980 | Paola Seri | Falconara | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
979 | Oleksandr Storchevs | Chercasy | Ukraine | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
978 | Liliia Dzhumaieva | Cherkasy | Ukraine | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
977 | Natalia Storchevs | Chercasy | Romania | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
976 | Alberto Nappi | Roma | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
975 | Iryna Basarab | Foligno | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
974 | Olena Vlasenko | Mykolaiv | Ukraine | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
973 | Patrizia Ghetti Giorleo | Roma | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
972 | Massimiliano De Romanis | Roma | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
971 | Pietro Pesce | Roma | Italia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
970 | Sophie Bustamante | Roma | Italy | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
969 | Renato Giallombardo | Roma | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
968 | Luca Lee | Pechino | Cina | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
967 | Kateryna Onyshchuk | Roma | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
966 | Kichula Mariia | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||||
965 | Natalia Kukla | Leopoli | Ukraina | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
964 | Mykola Zagrai | Leopoli | Ukraina | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
963 | Hanna Barnett | Ukraina | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
962 | Natalie Fleming | Seattle | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
961 | Valentyna Murzak | Roma | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
960 | Mykolay Severenchuk | Kiev | Ukraina | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
959 | Marco Pizzo | Roma | Italy | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
958 | Onur Aliturh | Roma | Italy | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
957 | Alberto Infante | Roma | Italy | Apr 12, 2022 | |||||
956 | Olsi Lelaj | Tirana | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
955 | Liliia Kozoriz | fano | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
954 | Ruggero Spataro | Albano Laziale | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
953 | Laura Noulian | Roma | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
952 | Paol Higgins | Edinborgh | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
951 | Nadiya Fedoriv | Frankovsk | Apr 12, 2022 | ||||||
950 | alessandro ferri | editoria | editore | roma | italia | Apr 10, 2022 | |||
949 | Leonardo Carpensano | Studente | Boh | Cuneo | Italy | Apr 09, 2022 | |||
948 | vittoria bolettieri | s. giuliano t. | Italia | Apr 09, 2022 | |||||
947 | rita rizzi | retired | baceno | italy | Apr 08, 2022 | ||||
946 | Dimitry Kochenov | Central European University | Budapest | Hungary | Apr 06, 2022 | ||||
945 | Domenico Martinelli | Journalist | Rome | Italy | Apr 05, 2022 | ||||
944 | Nicolas Ballario | Milano | Apr 05, 2022 | ||||||
943 | Rusudan Janelidze | Lanlord | Tbilisi | Gergia | Apr 05, 2022 | ||||
942 | Carlo Perassi | Cavour | Italia | Apr 05, 2022 | |||||
941 | Giuseppe Rippa | Giornalista | 00186 Roma | Apr 04, 2022 | |||||
940 | Angela Misani | Impiegata | Monza | Italia | Apr 04, 2022 | ||||
939 | Emanuele Salerno | University researcher | Firenze | Italia | Apr 04, 2022 | ||||
938 | Gianluca Caruso | Caronno Pertusella | Italia | Apr 04, 2022 | |||||
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