Roberta METSOLA, EP President and Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister speak to the journalists in a press conference after the debate on the EU's role in a changing world and the security situation of Europe following the Russian aggression and invasion on Ukraine.

EU - Ukraine (T)

Strasbourg

EU - Russia (T)

press conference

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

KALLAS, Kaja (ALDE, EE)

The EU's role in a changing world and the security situation of Europe following the Russian aggression and invasion on Ukraine: press conference by Roberta METSOLA, EP President and by Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, dear journalists. I am very happy to welcome Prime Minister Kallas here today, we have just had an excellent exchange during our bilateral meeting this morning, but also a very important debate, as you could see in the plenary.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, As time is limited, and I'm sure you have many questions to ask the prime minister and also this Parliament. I'll make three short points before I give the floor to my dear friend and former member of this house. First, and most importantly, thank you, Prime Minister, and also thank Estonia for having helped to shape our clear and firm response to the Russian invasion and our proposals to support the large number of people fleeing the war.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, We will continue to support Ukraine and its people. Secondly, we must to reduce our dependencies on the Kremlin. This will require a strong collective effort from governments to individuals. Also in this parliament, we are taking a number of progressive measures and encouraging others to do the same.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, For example, we have offered to secure an asset to secure online space for the Ukrainian Parliament and identified a physical premises in our building to help Ukrainians and Ukraine get its message across, but also, for example, isy reducing the temperature of the building by one degree. We must all do what we can.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President, Finally. Let me just mention that the Prime Minister's attendance today was the first of a new series of invitations that we are initiating under the theme of This is Europe, to the EU heads of state or government. These exchanges and discussions will focus on EU actions, and the topics, of course, will be adapted first of all, to current events in close cooperation with all the individual leaders. So quiet was really an honour to have you here in the first of the series. The floor is yours.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, Thank you. It is my great pleasure and honour to be here as well. When I was a member of European Parliament, I used to think whether I could get to speak ever on the side of the Council, but the time came, so it was it was really good to be here. I wish it would be under more pleasant circumstances.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, So just a few points I want to emphasise. First, I think everybody agreed also in the plenary that we have to help Ukrainians in every way we can. That means humanitarian aid, political support, but also military aid to defend themselves.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, Then as Second, what is very important is that we have to give Ukraine hope, and that also means very clear path to a European Union because they are literally fighting for Europe in Ukraine right now, and they definitely need hope. And I'm going to talk about and support this also in the European Council informal meeting that we're going to have tomorrow and Friday.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, Third. I was also speaking about smart containment in my speech. So there are different things that we have to do in order to prepare for this long haul, a crisis that we are in. First many members touched upon this energy dependence. This is a very big problem. And and again, we have been talking about this for years that we should decrease in dependence on Russian gas and oil. But here we are. So we have to do this in in a faster pace.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, Of course, it means for certain countries that we have to find alternatives as well. And we are going to have to be very honest with our people that this is also going to going to hurt. We have to isolate Russia in all the international organisations. We have to send a very clear message that we don't tolerate this in any way.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, And the third point that I think is very important is we have to have strategic patience regarding the sanctions. I have been member of this house. I've been in those debates and as it is representing all the political parties of Europe in different countries, it also reflects very well the debates that are going on inside the countries.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, And sooner rather than later, we are going to see discussions that, you know, sanctions. So really work. We should, you know, lift the sanctions, we should do agreements, we should go into negotiations. This is what Putin is clearly expecting. So we should resist, this very clearly. I was referring also in my speech about this.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev is quoted in the Public Security Council meeting that they had. He said, very clearly, "there are going to be sanctions, is going to be hard, but sooner rather than later they're going to grow tired of their own initiative and they're going to house goes back to the table".

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, So we must not forget what they're doing right now. It just can't be erased what is going on in Ukraine and we have to, you know, resist. And final point on defence, I think we have to have very good and open debates about European defence. And to be very clear, I don't want any alternative structure  to be built because 90 percent of European territory is also a NATO territory.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, So NATO is the defensive alliance, a military alliance. But while I'm saying this, I'm also saying that every country should increase their defence spending because if every army of European Union is stronger than we are stronger together and plus on the European level, we should also think about common capabilities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Kaja KALLAS, Estonian Prime Minister, I mean, in recent months, I have sat down with different military people talking about air defence, for example, you know, smaller and bigger bubbles. What are the capabilities? These are very expensive technologies, so it is too expensive for any individual member state to take up. But they cover a wider area, so we should do this together. Also to have the European Union defended properly. That's all for me. Thank you.