The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, has claimed this Thursday in front of the plenary session of the European Parliament the accession of Ukraine to the European Union, insisting that ‘de facto’ the fight of the Ukrainian troops against the Russian Army is an example of the defense of the European model: «Europe will be Europe as long as we take care of it».
In an extraordinary session convened by the presence of Zelenski in Brussels, the Ukrainian leader has defended in front of the parliamentarians the steps taken by Kiev in the European reforms, advances that it undertakes at the same time that it wages a war against Russia. «We are not going to take a step back. We are not going to waste time, we are changing and Europe will always be Europe as long as we take care of it and the European way of life», he declared.
Zelensky has framed the fight of the Ukrainian forces in the defense of Europe itself, insisting that the Russian aggression is not confined only to Ukraine but affects all values represented by the EU. The Ukrainian troops are fighting Moscow’s «anti-European» forces, stressed the Ukrainian president, who denounced that the Russian regime intends to return Europe to the «inhuman reality» of the 1930s and 1940s.
«But Europe must say no. We Ukrainians on the battlefield defend Europe from the most anti-European forces», he pointed out to refer to the eventual accession of Ukraine to the bloc as «the way home» for Ukrainians to share the «common European history».
The MEPs welcomed him with a standing ovation but in a hemicycle where, despite the expectation, there were empty seats. Zelenski, visibly moved, especially at the moment when Metsola stressed in his speech that the future of Ukraine is in the European Union, which has also garnered the loudest applause from the audience.
«Our response must be proportional to the threat, and the threat is existential», said Metsola in a speech that was applauded by the MEPs and Zelenski, while the President of the European Parliament proclaimed that «Ukraine is Europe and the future of its nation is in the European Union».
The hemicycle, which was dotted with posters that read the slogan ‘We stand with Ukraine’, has given a standing ovation on several occasions the speeches of Metsola and, above all, that of Zelenski, who has started his speech with the statement ‘Slava Ukraini’ (Glory to Ukraine), to which MEPs have responded as usual to this greeting: ‘Heroyam Slava’ (Glory to the heroes).
The finale of the visit to the European Parliament has been the photo holding, together with Metsola, a European flag that she has given him before closing the day listening, as on his arrival, the anthem of Ukraine, followed by the European ‘Ode to Joy’.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
