The Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, met with the leader of the GroenLinks-PvdA parliamentary group in the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament, Frans Timmermans, and a member of the House of Representatives from the Labour Party (PvdA), spokesperson on foreign affairs and asylum for the GroenLinks-PvdA parliamentary group, Kati Piri.
During the meeting, they discussed assistance to Ukraine in the war against russia, security guarantees and the course of European integration.
The Chair of the Committee thanked the Netherlands for its unwavering support for Ukraine and reiterated the importance of continuing pressure on russia: "We are now at a critical, decisive moment. There are high hopes in the world for negotiations between russia and Ukraine, but we in Ukraine are well aware of russia's tactics – to buy time to avoid even greater pressure from the West, while continuing to attack Ukraine with even greater force." Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze called on her Dutch colleagues to work with their constituents, colleagues and partners in other countries to jointly oppose russia and accelerate the introduction of the toughest sanctions.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze emphasised the importance of the European Union's decision to grant Ukraine candidate status for EU membership. She insisted that external barriers must now be removed in order to unblock the opening of the first negotiating cluster with the EU - ‘Fundamentals’. The opening of this cluster, as well as the close attention of European partners to reforms in Ukraine, will ensure their consistency and irreversibility, the Committee Chair is confident.
Regarding Euro-Atlantic integration, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze stressed that the issue of Ukraine's membership in NATO should in no way be a subject of bargaining in any negotiations with russia, because the russian federation has no right to decide the fate and future of Ukraine. "The war did not start because of NATO's expansion. Ukraine was a non-aligned state when russia annexed Crimea in 2014... NATO membership would be the most effective and economically advantageous security guarantee for Ukraine for its allies," the Committee Chair is convinced.
Frans Timmermans, for his part, noted that tectonic shifts are taking place in world politics. Europe, he said, must realise that the support of the United States, which has lasted for more than 80 years, will no longer be there. According to him, Europe must rethink both its relations with the US and its role on the continent. Europeans must unite and do everything possible to show Putin that he cannot defeat Ukraine. Regarding security guarantees for Ukraine, Frans Timmermans is convinced that without US military involvement, these guarantees are ineffective.