Eastern Partership Forum - EU candidature status to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova ? Assessing options through the results of the Eastern Partership Index

Czech President Václav Havel on feeling European four years before his country joined the EU.

Václav Havel was both the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first democratically-elected president in the country after the fall of communism, as well as the first of the Czech Republic after it was founded.

In 2000, four years before his country joined the EU, he addressed the European Parliament, speaking about the feeling of Europeanness and European unity.  

* Watch the full speech on the European Parliament's Multimedia Centre http://epyoutube.eu/speechhavel

Speech by Václav Havel on European identity | European Parliament

Five days after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, the country's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to the European Parliament by video link from Kyiv, a city under siege.
 
In a defiant speech, he praised the bravery of his fellow Ukrainians, denounced the senseless killing and called on the European Parliament to back Ukraine's application to join the EU.
 
* Watch the full recording of the 1 March 2022 speech on the European Parliament's Multimedia Centre: http://epyoutube.eu/speechZelenskyy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech on war in Ukraine | European Parliament

In 1991, Polish President Lech Wałęsa outlined his vision of a post-communist, European future for his country.   
    
Former shipyard worker Wałęsa led Solidarity, the pro-democracy movement that helped end communist rule in Poland in 1989. He told the European Parliament about the hopes and challenges of integrating former eastern bloc countries into the wider European community.    
    
*Watch the full speech on the European Parliament's Multimedia channel.

Lech Wałęsa’s speech on post-communism | European Parliament

MEPs have demanded targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani officials in the wake of the military seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh.    
    
More than 100,000 ethnic Armenians have fled the enclave since September’s attack. Parliament said the forced exodus amounted to ethnic cleansing.   
    
MEPs passed a resolution which also urged EU institutions and member states to increase humanitarian aid to Armenia. It called for a review of EU relations with Azerbaijan, including on gas supplies.

Nagorno-Karabakh: MEPs urge sanctions over Azerbaijan’s attack

The environment and climate change, cost-of-living crisis, migration, Russia’s war on Ukraine, EU enlargement…  

Members of the European Parliament questioned Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the final State of the Union debate before the 2024 European elections.  
 
Has the von der Leyen Commission done enough this past year? And how will it deliver for EU citizens in the coming months? 

Watch this video to learn more on how Parliament scrutinised the Commission’s track-record and programme before next year's vote.

State of the EU: MEPs press Commission President ahead of elections

As Russia’s full-on invasion of Ukraine enters its second year, many refugees have picked up the pieces of their shattered lives and are rebuilding them in the European Union. Their stories are a tale of strength, resilience and solidarity. Here, four of them, living in Germany, Poland and Spain, tell their stories.        
      
The European Parliament continues to stand by Ukraine and its people. Learn more: http://epyoutube.eu/UkraineOneYearOn

Meet Ukrainian refugees who fled the war

Discover the story of the European flag and the values it stands for: democracy, dignity, freedom, equality, rule of law and human rights.
 
The European flag inspires around the globe. People celebrating or fighting for the causes the flag represents often adopt it as their symbol, inside and outside EU borders.

The European flag: a symbol of fundamental values

MEPs welcomed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. The Russian president stands accused of war crimes over the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children.  

Parliament has repeated its call to establish a special tribunal to hold Russian leaders accountable for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

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