The European High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrel, asked this Sunday at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) to accelerate and increase military aid to Ukraine and spoke in favor of that country’s entry into the EU.
“We are arming Ukraine because war is a great existential challenge to our security. (President Volodomir) Zelensky and Ukraine don’t have enough ammunition but they have enough motivation,” he said. in a speech before a round table.
“We have to do more and faster, we have to speed up our military aid to Europe. All the European leaders here have said that Russia cannot win the war, that Ukraine must win the war. We have to transform the words into deeds,” he added.
Besides the short-term challenge, which is to increase and accelerate military aid to Ukraine, Borrell highlighted two medium-term challenges, which increase the capacity of the European arms industry and deal more with the global south.
Regarding the latter, Borrell said he had detected some skepticism in some countries regarding support for Ukraine and said that Europe must behave in such a way that it is clear that what it stands for, they are universal values and not values that are only valid when a neighbor is attacked.
“We see that in Africa there is a certain skepticism… People have memories and feelings. We have to show that we are defending universal values and not values that are only valid when Ukraine is attacked “, he said.
During the roundtable that followed, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson agreed with Borrell on the need to accelerate military aid to Ukraine.
“I recently went to kyiv. The Ukrainians tell us: you send us weapons and that’s good. But you send them too late and too slowly,” Kristersson said.
Kallas, for his part, stressed that on the one hand Ukraine needs ammunition, and on the other hand, the countries that deliver them must replenish their reserves.
Likewise, he recalled that Russia draws the equivalent of European monthly production of ammunition every day, so he is ahead to speed up production and expressed concern that companies are not receiving enough orders. to do it.
“What worries me is when industry says they don’t have enough orders to ramp up production. It seems some governments think that will pass quickly,” he said.
“I think Russia is betting that the EU will tire on its own initiative. Russia will not tire so quickly. We see that Putin has been doing what he has been saying for years. Hitler was not believed either and was pretty open about his goals.” he added.
During the round table, an important topic was Ukraine’s integration into both NATO and the EU.
Kallas argued that the only guarantee of lasting security for Ukraine is NATO membership.
“NATO is a peace project and because we are members of NATO, we are not living in such dark times as other countries, especially Ukraine. The only effective guarantee for Ukraine is the NATO membership,” he said.
Borrell, for his part, said Ukraine is a member of the European family and should join the EU.
“Ukraine is a member of the European family and will be a member of the EU. After what happened, it is clear that Ukraine must belong to the EU,” he said.
With that, there will have to be changes both in the EU and in Ukraine, which will have to make reforms to meet the criteria.
The diversity of the EU will change, once between Ukraine you will enter several Balkan countries,” he said.
“We will have to change our processes, which cannot be the same as with 27 members. Ukraine will also have many outstanding tasks such as the fight against corruption and economic reforms. Addressing these issues as the bombs fall is difficult, but Ukraine wants to do it,” he added.