Position of the Polish delegation in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) of 11 March 2022 on solidarity with Ukraine in connection with the military aggression of the Russian Federation
On 24 February 2022, Europe faced the biggest challenge in three decades. We are dealing not only with aggression against Ukraine, but also with aggression against the European security order and European values.
As representatives of local and regional authorities from Poland – a neighbour country of the unlawfully attacked Ukraine, we condemn the actions that have led to the destabilisation of the geopolitical situation in Europe and the disruption of peace. We strongly emphasise that there is no excuse for this type of action.
We express full solidarity with the Ukrainian people and authorities defending their sovereignty and independence. Ukraine, like any member of the international community, has the right to choose its own path of development and its alliances and international partners. We stand in solidarity with the inhabitants of the affected areas and with the citizens of Ukraine who are staying in our homeland. We do everything in our power to provide them with help and support.
After the experience of the 20th century, it seemed that politicians across Europe understood that war could not be an instrument for the implementation of what state interests seem to require. The brutality of Russian actions has no justification and requires immediate action by the international community to stop them, and in the future judgment.
Almost every local government in Poland has a partner in Ukraine. For years, Polish subnational authorities, by sharing the experience of systemic transformation and building modern local and regional government, have supported the construction of the Ukrainian statehood and its European aspirations. We will do everything in our power to provide our Ukrainian partners with adequate humanitarian assistance, as well as support for recovery and the fulfilment of European aspirations in the future.
We support the position expressed in the European Parliament resolution of 1 March 2022 on Russian aggression against Ukraine (2022/2564(RSP)), calling on the EU institutions to make efforts to grant Ukraine EU candidate status. At the same time, we are fully aware of Ukraine’s need to fulfil the conditions attached to the accession process.
We also support the European Union’s Declaration of Regions and Cities on Solidarity with Ukraine, which was adopted at the 9. Summit of European Regions and Cities in Marseille on 3-4 March 2022 calling, inter alia, to urgently grant refugee status to Ukrainian citizens leaving the country under EU asylum law. We call on the representatives of the local and regional authorities of all the Member States of the European Union to engage in an immediate de-escalation of the situation, support and assistance to the citizens of Ukraine who have been confronted with the war. We also call on all European regions to welcome Ukrainian refugees to their territories. We also ask the European Commission to launch as soon as possible the assistance package for Ukraine as well as the cities and regions directly involved in providing humanitarian aid to the victims of war.
Polish delegation to the European Committee of the Regions.