The war between Russia and Ukraine is “our war too,” Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told European leaders in the Romanian capital of Bucharest.
Speaking today at the European People’s Party Congress, the Fine Gael leader denounced Russia’s “brutal assault” on Ukraine, telling his European colleagues how Ireland has accepted asylum seekers from the invaded country.
“WE HAVE OPENED OUR HEARTS AND DOORS TO THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE”
“Colleagues, Ireland is at the edge of western Europe, but we have opened our hearts and doors to the people of Ukraine,” he said, adding: “I do not believe that Putin’s ambitions will stop at Ukraine.”
He went on to say that the Ukraine war is “our war too,” and called for the development of the PESCO European defence policy.
CALLED TO DEVELOP PESCO
“This is our war too, and it’s not just happening on Ukraine’s territory,” he said.
“It’s happening all around us, in our seas, and in the form of physical and cyber attacks. As one of my forebears said, a Europe worth building is a Europe with defending. We should do so by developing PESCO in particular.”
“WE STAND BY UKRAINE FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES”
He called on the EPP to send out the message that “we stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes,” and called on European leaders to continue to support Ukraine for “years” to come.
“Our message to the Kremlin is that Russia cannot win this war, and we will do more to help Ukraine in the coming months and years,” he said.
UKRAINIANS “SACRIFICING THEIR LIVES FOR EUROPEAN VALUES”
The Taoiseach said that the people of Ukraine were “sacrificing their lives for European values,” and that they were “fighting for democracy, liberty and the rule of law.” He further called for negotiations to allow Ukraine to join the European Union to progress “as quickly as possible.”
“The least we can do is provide them with the tools they need to defend their country and their homes – and progress EU accession negotiations as quickly as possible,” he said.
“WE STAND FOR DEMOCRACY, WE STAND FOR FREEDOM”
“We are the EPP. We stand for democracy. We stand for freedom. We stand by Ukraine. We stand for Europe.”