Immediate opening of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU

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Immediate opening of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU: appeal to EU Council President Emmanuel Macron

The Lithuania Tribune, February 16, 2022, Espreso.TV (Kyiv), February 17, 2022 , Desk Russie, February 19, 2022, EuromaidanPress, February 19, 2022

Mr. President of the Republic,

The threats to the security and integrity of Ukraine and, beyond, of the whole of Europe, are unprecedented since the end of the Second World War.

On the one hand, some EU Member States have already taken courageous decisions. Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, France and Poland have decided to provide civilian and military equipment to Ukraine, while Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain have committed themselves to strengthening the military presence in the region; France is preparing to do the same in Romania.

On the other hand, the European Union is working with the United States and other Nato members on a list of new sanctions to try to ward off a new invasion by the Russian Federation.

While these are steps in the right direction of strengthening deterrence, it may not be enough to ensure stability in Ukraine in the short to medium term.

For these reasons, we turn to you, particularly in your capacity as President of the country holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the hope that you will promote among the other Heads of State and Government an initiative that would make the European Union a truly strategic player in this crisis. Since in 2015 the European Union recognised « Ukraine’s European aspirations » and welcomed « its European choice », the time has come to give it a real prospect of integration by immediately opening negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, with the aim of its full integration within ten years.

Even if the current crisis does not turn into open conflict, Ukraine will continue to be subject to destabilisation operations. The precise and binding timetable of reforms that the accession process entails would be a powerful incentive to strengthen democracy and the rule of law in that country and thus a serious antidote to any future attempts at destabilisation. We very much hope that you will take this proposal onto your agenda.

First signatories:

Bernhard Altermatt, Senior Research Fellow (Institute of Federalism), Freiburg/Fribourg University

Filippos Andrianos, Commodore in the Hellenic Navy (ret.), Greece

Antoine Arjakovsky, Co-director of the research department Politics and Religions, Collège des Bernardins, France

Mauro Arnò, Brigadier General (ret.), Italian Army

Marek Pawel Balt, Member of the European Parliament, Poland

Sophie Bilderling-Shihab, journalist, former correspondent of Le Monde in Moscow

Annick Bilobran, President of Advule, France

Bohdan Bilohotzky, President of the Union of Ukrainians in France

Hélène Blanc, Political scientist and criminologist specialising in contemporary Russia and the Slavic world

Emil Brix, Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Austria

Susanna Cafaro, Professor of European Union law at the Salento University, Jean Monnet Chair, Italy

Vincenzo Camporini, General (ret.), former Chief of Defence, Italy

Paulo Casaca, former Member of the Portuguese Parliament, former Member of the European Parliament

George Christainas, Major General (ret.), Greece

Natalia Czajkowska, Director of the European Academy of Diplomacy, Warsaw, Poland

Georges Dallemagne, Member of the Belgian Parliament, President of the friendship group with the Ukrainian Parliament

Christophe D’Aloisio, Visiting Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, Director of the Institute of Orthodox Theology of Brussels, Belgium

Francesco D’Arrigo, Founder and Director of the Italian Institute of Strategic Studies « Niccolò Machiavelli »

Philippe de Lara, Philosopher, Emeritus Professor at Paris 2 University, France

Mark Demesmaeker, Senator, member of the friendship group with the Ukrainian Parliament, Belgium

Philippe de Suremain, Diplomat, former French Ambassador to Ukraine, France

Martin Dietze, Chief architect, knowledge activist, communicator, Germany

Massimiliano Di Pasquale, research associate at the Gino Germani Foundation, Italy

Olivier Dupuis, former Member of the European Parliament, Belgium

Anne Ferreira, former Member of the European Parliament, France

Andrej Findor, Associate Professor at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia

Vanessa Frangville, Senior Lecturer and Chair holder in Chinese studies at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium

Francisco José Gan, Lieutenant General of the Spanish Army (ret). Doctor Honoris Causa by the Catholic University of Valencia.

Jan Gavrila, Major General (ret.), former Under Secretary of State, Romania

Aleksandar Georgiev, Colonel (ret), former Senior Bulgarian National Representative to USCENTCOM, Bulgaria

Roberto Giachetti, member of the Italian Parliament

Anke Giesen, Member of the Boards of Memorial International and Memorial Germany

Thorniké Gordadzé, Former Minister of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Georgia, Senior Fellow à International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)

Anne-Marie Goussard, Honorary Consul of Lithuania, France

Jarosław Gryz, Professor at the War Studies University, Warsaw, Poland

Pär Gustafsson, Senior Analyst at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, Sweden

Andrzej Halicki, Member of the European Parliament, Poland

Olexiy Haran, Professor, Head of Board of the School for Policy Analysis, Kyiv Mohyla Academy; Research Director, Democratic Initiatives Foundation

Rebecca Harms, former Member of the European Parliament and Co-chair of the Green Parlamentary Group, Germany

Oleksandr Havrylenko, Professor at the V. N. Karazin National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Richard Herzinger, Columnist, Berlin, Germany

Vit Hlousek, Professor of European Politics, Masaryk University, Czechia

Marie Holzman, Sinologist, President of Solidarité Chine

Ulrich Huygevelde, Coordinator of the Center Géopolis (Brussels)

Ladislav Ilčić, Member of the European Parliament, Croatia

Antonino Inturri, General (ret.), former Army Attaché at the Italian Embassy in Berlin, Italy

Rasa Jukneviciené, Vice-President of the European Parliament, former Defence Minister, Lithuania

Radan Kanev, Member of the European Parliament, Bulgaria

Andrius Kubilius, Member of the European Parliament, former Prime Minister, Lithuania

Christian Kaunert, Professor of International Security, Dublin City University and University of South Wales

Aleksandrs Kirsteins, Member of the Estonian Parliament

Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, Member of the Polish Parliament (Sejm), Poland

Eerik-Niiles Kross, Member of the Estonian Parliament, former Intelligence Director

Tarmo Kruusimäe, Member of the Estonian Parliament

Liliia Kuzyk, Ukrainian jurist, Paris

Vincent Laborderie, Lecturer at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium

Vytautas Landsbergis, former President of the Republic of Lithuania

Laurynas Lasciunas, Chairman of National Security and Defence Committee, Lithuanian Parliament

Jonathan Littell, Writer, Prix Goncourt, France

Jaak Madison, Member of the European Parliament, Estonia

Pandeli Majko, former Prime Minister, Albania

Spyros Manolakis, Commodore (ret.) Hellenic Navy, Greece

Myroslav Marynovych, University Professor, Vice-rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University of Lviv, Ukraine

Khatuna Maisashvili, Associate Professor of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia

Marian Jean Marinescu, Member of the European Parliament, Romania

Aude Merlin, Lecturer at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

Alvydas Medalinskas, Political Analyst, Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, Former Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Parliament of Lithuania

Dace Melbārde, Member of the European Parliament, former Minister, Latvia

Pierre Minonzio, Honorary Consul of Lithuania in Lyon

Emilio Moffa, Admiral (ret.), Italy

Lydia Obolensky, Professor of Russian language and literature, Belgium

Boguslaw Pacek, Major General (ret.), Professor at the Jagiellonian University, Advisor to the Ministry of Defence, Poland

Carmelo Palma, columnist, coordinator of “Italia europea”, Italy

Filipe Papança, Professor at the Military Academy (Amadora), Portugal

Žygimantas Pavilionis, International Secretary of Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, Member of the Lithuanian Parliament

César Pintado, Defence Analyst and Professor in the International Campus for Security and Defence (CISDE), Spain

Gianni Pittella, Senator, Italy

Elena Poptodorova, Vice President of the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria; former Ambassador to the US; former Member of the Bulgarian Parliament

Andrzej Podraza, Professor, Head of the Chair of International Relations and Security, Catholic University of Lublin, Poland

Paolo Puri, General (ret.), Former Military adviser to the Prime Minister, Italy

Bronis Ropė, Member of the European Parliament, Lithuania

Pedro Roque Oliveira, Member of the Portuguese Parliament, Chair of the Labour Committee

Thornike Sharashenidze, Professor, Head of International Relations MA program at Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA)

Vasile Simileanu, Director of GeoPolitica Magazine, Romania

Edvīns Šnore, Member of the Latvian Parliament (Saeima)

Gianfranco Spadaccia, former Member of the Italian Parliament

Céline Spector, Philosopher, Professeur des Universités, Sorbonne Université, France

Ivan Stefanec, Member of the European Parliament, Slovakia

Lorenzo Strik Lievers, former Member of the Italian Parliament

Michael Struve, Lecturer in Political Sciences, Paris

David Stulík, Senior Analyst, European Values Centre for Security Policy, Czechia

Marcin Święcicki, President of the European Movement Forum, former minister, Poland

Todor Tagarev, Head, Centre for Security and Defence Management, former minister of defence of Bulgaria

Dmitri Teperik, Chief Executive at International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS), Estonia

Andreas Umland, Analyst at the Stockholm Centre for East European Studies, Germany

Maïrbel Vatchagaev, Chechen historian and political analyst on the North Caucasus at the Jamestown Foundation, co-editor in chief of the journal “Caucasus Survey”

Sofia Ventura, Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna, Italy

Gianni Vernetti, former Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, Italy

Hartwig von Schubert, Theologist, lecturer at the University of Hamburg, Germany

Nikos Votsios, Brigadier General (ret.), former International Relations Director of the Greek Ministry of Defence

Vo Van Ai, écrivain, Président du Comité Vietnam pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (VCHR)

Witold Waszczykowski, Member of the European Parliament, former Foreign Affairs Minister, Poland

Emanuelis Zingeris, Member of the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas)

Milan Zver, Member of the European Parliament, former Minister, Slovenia

 

And after publication in newspapers:

Liliana Brožič, New University, Slovenia

Mateusz Chmurski, Lecturer, Associate Professor, UFR of Slavic Studies, Faculty of Letters, Sorbonne University, France

Ants Erm, Marine scientist, former Member of Parliament, Estonia

Natalia Gamalova, Professor of Russian Language and Literature, Department of Slavic Studies, University of Lyon 3, France

Nino Gemelli, Former Member of the European Parliament, Italy

Wu’er Kaixi, General Secretary, Taiwan Parliamentary Human Rights Commission

Mauro Maria Marino, Senator, Italy

Emmanuel Morucci, Sociologist, President of the Cercle Europe Citoyennetés et Identités, France

Alexander Motyl, Professor, Rutgers University-Newark, United States

Jennifer S. Nelson, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Antoine Nivière, Professor at the University of Lorraine, Director of CERCEL UR 4372, President of the 13th section of the CNU « Slavic and Baltic Studies », France

Jan Pieklo, Former Polish Ambassador to Ukraine

Eva Quistorp, Former Member of the European Parliament, Die Grünen, Berlin, Germany

Andrei Sannikov, Chairman of the European Belarus Foundation. Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus (1995-1996), Presidential candidate 2010,  Former Prisoner of Conscious

Deny Teps, President of the World Chechen Congress, Rector of the Brussels Academy of Justice, Belgium

Nhat Vo Tran, Secrétaire Exécutif du Comité Vietnam pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (VCHR)

Oleksii Zahreba, Secretary-General of the International Association for Political Science Students

And:

Samantha Abbiati, LCSW, CAS, Yoga Teacher, Charlotte, United States

Vera Ammer, translator, Memorial Germany (Memorial Deutschland e. V.)

Carlos Miguel Amezcua Ruiz, Spain

Dmytro Atamanyuk, President of the « Association Aide Médicale Caritative France-Ukraine »

Marta Barandiy, founding chair of the Belgian NGO Promote Ukraine

Chiara Bellusci, Nonviolent Radical Party, Rome

Tiziana Benucci, entrepreneur, Italy

Raffaella Bianchi, Italy

Aimé Bille, gendarme (e.r.), Belgium

Hanna Blondel, Language teacher, PHD, France

Renzo Boatelli, architect, Italy

Anastasiia Bondarenko, Relationship Manager, Kyiv, Ukraine

Igor Boni, President of ‘Radicali Italiani’

Jean-Michel Boudry, Trainer, France

Barbara Bracquiné, Master in Translation, Belgium

Giorgio Brojanigo, Italy

Chiara Calore, Italy

Giuseppe Candido, Italy

Paolo Cardoni, Italy

Arnaud Castaignet, Senior fellow, Open Diplomacy

Silvia Castaldi, Italy

Francesco Casteller, Italy

Naomi Chubay, Ukraine

Umberto Cini, interpreter and translator, member of the Alexander Langer Foundation, Italy

Michel Clette, Civil Servant, Belgium

Matteo Coceani, Italy

Cătălin Condurache

Tetyana Cope, casino worker, Las Vegas, USA

Donatella Corleo, entrepreneur, member of the General Council of the Radical Party, Italy

Enzo Cucco, Italy

Guènia Cuzin, Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite et médailles ukrainiennes, France

Mykola Cuzin, Président du Comité Ukraine 33, Président du Comité de Défense de la Démocratie en Ukraine, France

Carlo D’Ammassa, Medical Surgeon, Italy

Bernard De Backer, Sociologist, Belgium

Alberto de Filippis, Italy

Miguel de Socarraz, long-time Cuban refugee

Walter Derzko, Retired Strategic foresight expert, Toronto, Canada

Gabriella Dodero, Italy

Vincenzo Donvito, Aduc, Italy

Bertrand Ducluzeau, France

Patrick Erard, France

Natalia A. Feduschak, journalist, United States

Marco Filippa, teacher, Italy

Franco Fois, Italy

Francesca Fontana, Italy

Francesco Franco, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Luca Frassinetti, Italy

Silvestro Gallipoli, Naples Radical Association – Ernesto Rossi, Italy

Bruno Gambardella, High school teacher, member of the national board of +Europa, Italy

Xavier Galmiche, Writer, professor of literature, UFR of Slavic Studies, Sorbonne University, France

Marta Gemma, Italy

Onofrio Cristiano Gerlando, Italy

Paolo Ghersina, Italy/Germany

Mridula Ghosh, Board Chair ‘East European Development Institute’

Valerio Giannellini, Italy

Simona D. Giannetti, Lawyer and General Councillor of the Radical Party, Italy

Nicola Giovannini, President of Droit au Droit – Right to Law, Belgium

Mariano Giustino, Journalist, Correspondent of Radio Radicale in Ankara, Italy

Roger Higginson, Former Head of the UK Delegation to the Council of Europe’s Culture & Heritage Committee

Gerold Hildebrand, Sociologist, Berlin, Germany

Mauro Iacoponi, shopkeeper, Italy

Alessandra Impalazzo, Italy

Robert L. Jakab, Ph.D., Hungarian and U.S. citizen, former neuroscientist at Yale University, New York, USA

Sophia Kayes, Belarus

Nikolay Khramov, entrepreneur, Moscow

Alexandre Komilkiw, State cadre, France

Kristjan Korsten, entrepreneur, Estonia

Lyuba Krasavina, Ukraine

Michel Kurela, Space launch systems engineer, France

Mireille Lust, France

Silvana Magnani, retired, Italy

Stefano Magni, journalist, Italy

Juri Marini, Italy

Giovanna Marrone, Italy

Lucio Marziale, Criminal lawyer, Councillor of the Municipality of Isola del Liri, Italy

Didier Maubailly, Responsable Exploitation à la Poste, France

Daniele Maughelli, Italy

Desideria Mini, Member of the Assembly of +Europa and individual member ALDE, Italy

M. Mishchenko, State cadre, France

Gianclaudio Morini, Italy

Giacomo Nardone, Italy

Yuriy Nesterov, International Consultant at the United Nations, Ankara, Turkiye

Tetiana Nikolaieva, Ukraine

Artur Nura, Journalist, Albania

Natalia Ostach, President of the Union of Ukrainian Women in Belgium

Ong Thong Hoeung, Belgium

Anders Östlund, Swede living in Ukraine, business owner

Francesco Pasquariello, General Councillor of the Radical Party, Italy

Fabio Pazzini, Italy

Fabrizio Pesoli, Italy

Stefano Petrella, Member of the General Council of the Radical Party, Italy

Piotr Porayski-Pomsta, Author, translator, France

Rosa Quasibene, Pescara, Italy

Marta Rosso, Manager, Italy

Angelica Russomando, Political Advisor Transnational Radical Party, Rome

Aminat Saiyeva, Chechen politiсian

Stefania Schipani, Italy

David Semeria, CEO Veespo Limited, Italy

Snizhana Seneta, Ukraine

Diana Severati, National Coordinator Individual Members ALDE Party in Italy

Vasyl Shkoliarenko, Ukraine

Aldo Signori, retired, Italy

Katarzyna Słaby, Poland

Chiara Steindler, Research Fellow, Italy

Francesca Torre, Gioventù Federalista Europea Genova, Italy

Andrea Tresoldi, Italy

Raffaele Troia, male nurse, Italy

Zorian Trusewych, Physician and former USA Army officer

Sofia Tsysareva, Credit analyst, Nestle Business Service Centre, Lisbon, Portugal

Andrea Turi, Coordinator Associazione Radicale Adelaide Aglietta, Italy

Laisa Vagapova, Chechen-Russian-French translator-interpreter, France

Mervi Verhasselt, Painter, Finland

Pike Viitanen, Master of Laws, Finland

Martin Wessel, Accommodation and marketing professional

Patrick Worms, President of the European Federation of Agroforestry

Victoria Yermolenko, English teacher, France

Simone Zaccagnini, Italy

 

People wishing to sign the appeal can do so by writing their first and last name and their qualification in the comments