During her visit to Kyiv, President Metsola meets with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Together they speak to the press. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola visits Ukraine on 9 May 2024, on the occasion of Europe Day.

EU - Ukraine (T)

press conference

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

president's agenda

solidarity with Ukraine (T)

ZELENSKYY, Volodymyr (UA)

Press conference by Roberta METSOLA, EP President and Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine, Today, on Europe Day, the day of a peaceful united Europe, we congratulate the president of the European Parliament. We work together to strengthen our positions to protect life and life in Ukraine, throughout our region and throughout Europe. Now, seventy-nine years after the defeat of Nazism, our Europe has unfortunately once again become the scene of a fate-deciding battle. And not only the fate of our Ukrainian people, but also of many other peoples of the world.

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine, And in this battle, life must win. Life must prevail over Russian missiles, Russian attacks and hatred, which break the lives of millions of our people, millions of Ukrainians, and see the lives of millions as their target. It is very important that now we are not alone in this battle and European are united with us from many free nations, many courageous and principled people.

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine, I want to thank you again, Roberta. Thank you very much for the fact that since the beginning of this war you have really courageously and fundamentally helped us by protecting lives. Madam President of the European Parliament was one of the first world leaders who visited Ukraine at such a difficult time for Ukraine, when the Russian Nazis were still standing near Kiev.

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine, I am grateful to you and the entire European Parliament for the fact that we have really felt your support. Your desire to add your leadership to those who lacked their courage in the beginning. The decisions and calls of the European Parliament have given certainity to Europe, certainity that Putin will not succeed in rewriting the history of Europe with blood and ruins. Today we discussed what is happening at the front, what the occupiers are now preparing for. How important it is now not to diminish European strength and principle in any way. Ukraine needs further timely defense support, which is capable of disrupting Russia's retaliatory plan, the plan for their offensive this year.

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine, The position of the European Parliament will continue to be important so that all our agreements in Europe on defence and joint force are actually implemented. We also need further fundamental expressions of political support for both Ukraine and the whole project of a united Europe. A Single European Union. No people in Europe that share common European values and defend them should remain outside European unity. We in Ukraine fulfilled all the necessary conditions so that already in June, as agreed, the negotiating framework was approved and in fact the negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union actually began.

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine, It is equally important that for other nations that deserve to be in the European Union, European connections really work, so that they too realize their candidate status. Europe is both the Balkans and Moldova. And the day will necessarily be Europe Day for Georgia, Europe Day for Belarus. All this has already been reflected, in particular, by the positions of the European Parliament. And it is really important to realize all this. Another fundamental thing is that we have to clearly see the perspective

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine, We are preparing for the first Integrative Global Peace Summit in June. The summit in Switzerland is a summit that can and should be a real chance to restore and guarantee a just peace for Ukraine, for the whole of Europe and for every nation that can suffer the kind of blows that Ukraine is currently suffering. If international law and the will of the world majority work for us, they will be able to work to restore peace for all, for every people on earth. And that's why the Peace Summit is important. That is why Putin is trying to destroy it. He will do this by trying to increase the pressure on the front, and start new offensive actions, and various manipulations in politics, and try to split the international community

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine, Putin is really afraid of a peace summit, he is afraid that the world majority will begin to force Russia into peace. That is why we need an absolutely clear position of every state, every leader, every international organization on participation in the peace summit, on supporting our common peace, founding efforts. I thank you once again, Roberta, and all the leaders of Europe who have already supported the Peace Summit and are already helping with the organization. Peace is always a common cause, a joint effort. History always celebrates each and every one of those who bring peace closer today.

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine, Roberta, Madam President, we in Ukraine want to celebrate your personal efforts, the efforts of your team, the efforts of the whole Parliament, the European Parliament, in protecting life, in protecting Europe and bringing peace closer. Ukraine is grateful to you! We are sure peace for the whole of Europe is definitely an alternative. Glory to Ukraine! By the Decree of the President of Ukraine for significant personal merits in strengthening interstate cooperation, support of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, significant contribution to the popularization of the Ukrainian state in the world, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the First Degree.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President Dear president, dear Volodymyr, thank you so much for your kind words and for this honor that you have just bestowed upon me. It is truly a privilege for me to be in beautiful Kyiv today, on Europe Day. I am here to show our continued support and commitment to Ukraine and to say that Europe is Ukraine, just as Ukraine is Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President President, Europe is thankful to the Ukrainian people for their courage and bravery in the face of aggression. And to you for your unwavering leadership. We thank you for standing up for democracy and the rules based world order, for our common European values, and for fighting for them with dignity. But we know that Ukraine is paying the highest price in defending itself in this senseless war of aggression.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President Addressing the chamber of the European Parliament in February 2023, I remember how you spoke of the European way of life and the European rules for life. How each and every person matters, and how the rule of law matters. Today, we Europeans must further strengthen our resolve in supporting you, we must and will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President And you know that Ukraine is and will remain the priority of the European Union from the very first moment of this unjust, brutal and illegal invasion. The European Parliament has been the staunchest supporter of Ukraine. We were the first European Union institution to call for granting Ukraine EU candidate status, and later to open the accession negotiations. The accession talks should start as soon as possible, and I am optimistic that the negotiating framework can be adopted by the EU member states in June.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President The European Parliament will help Ukraine in any way possible to advance on all the necessary steps on its European path, and we will, and I can commit to this, remain as vocal as ever on Ukraine, as my visit today also demonstrates. We also painfully aware that Ukraine urgently needs more equipment and air defense systems to defend itself against the aggressor. We, Europeans, need to deliver. We need to take responsibility. We need to intensify our support and deliver on our financial support. This is why our decision on the €50 billion Ukraine facility was so important.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President And I also welcome the more recent American decision to provide vital and significant financial and military support to Ukraine. Together, this provides a predictable and secured financing to meet the state's needs and the demands of its reconstruction efforts. Dear president, the European Parliament, fully supports your ten point peace plan. We hope that the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland will bring real, practical outcomes. We need peace with justice, with freedom and with dignity. And let me be very clear on this. Nothing can be decided without the full agreement of Ukrainians.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President In our efforts to put increased pressure on Russia, the European Parliament will continue to call for new sanctions. I welcome the progress on the 14th package of sanctions in this regard, and we hope for its fast adoption. We will also increase tariffs on certain Russian and Belarussian agricultural products, mainly grains, to discourage their imports into the single market. And furthermore, we are ready to use profits from Russian frozen assets for Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President Finally, let me add let me end with a more personal remark. This year marks 20 years of the accession of my home country, Malta, and along with it, nine other member states to the European Union. I have seen the transformative effect of European Union enlargement, the opportunities and the security that come with it. As today, the people of Ukraine are looking to Europe with the same sense of hope and belief in our common future that we had, then Europe cannot be the one to look away. So we will stand with you. You will win and our future will be a common one. Slava, Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine -

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President To continue perhaps a little bit on the peace plan. I just wanted to reiterate, on behalf of the European Parliament, that the one formula that we have is precisely President Zelensky standpoint peace plan. And this is what we need to pursue as we work towards a much awaited peace summit in Switzerland.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President And I really want to recognize the huge diplomatic efforts made by President Zelensky and his team and his government in order to bring so many countries in around the table in an unprecedented manner, as we have seen in other countries before, this one on this information, we we take the example of what has happened in some national elections.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President There has been interference, both direct and indirect, to both, external and internal. And we are under no illusion that the same attempts will be made in the European Parliament elections in some countries more than others, with one specific aim, and that is to undermine the European project and to, push for a narrative that is the complete opposite of the one we stand for.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President We fight to counter this with legislative means. So we have adopted the Digital Services Act, which places responsibility on information search engines and social media platforms in order for responsibility to be also shouldered, in terms of how such information is spread and what we mean by disinformation, misinformation and propaganda.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, EP President Last point would also be that we have to have a responsibility ourselves as politicians, we are elected. We have a responsibility towards the citizens we represent. And the first thing we should do is make sure that we are not the originators ourselves of misinformation. And I think this is something that we also see, inside national parliaments, inside, various national institutions. And I think it is one that we should push back and take responsibility over ourselves.

SOUNDBITE (Ukranian), Volodymyr ZELENSKYY, President of Ukraine -