Roberta METSOLA, EP President, visits Lviv in Ukraine, in order to address the United for Justice conference. On the occasion of that official visit, she helds a press point. President Metsola exchanges with journalists on the outcome of the visit. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Ukraine

EU - Ukraine (T)

Lviv

visit

troubles in Ukraine (T)

press conference

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

president's agenda

solidarity with Ukraine (T)

consequences of the war in Ukraine (T)

Visit by Roberta METSOLA, EP President, in Ukraine - Press point

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, First of all, when we say Ukraine is Europe and Europe is Ukraine, that means that accession negotiations need to start as soon as possible. And that means hopefully by this year. We are impressed with the progress that the Ukrainians have made with the recommendations of the European Commission. I believe that the Parliament believes that we have to match that progress with efficiency and speed on behalf of our side.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, Secondly, on sanctions, we need to go further. We still have gaps. We have done unprecedented work with the amount of packages that we have worked with that we have adopted, but there are still too many gaps that are abused and there are still further that we can go. Sanctions hurt, they work. And if our threat is existential, then our response needs to be proportionate.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, Thirdly, on accountability. I'm here for an August for a conference on the setting up of a special tribunal. When we talk about peace, we need to talk about accountability. Whoever is responsible for these crimes needs to pay. And that means that if we find jurisdiction for the crime of aggression, then we need to find the legal means to do it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, Lastly on and most importantly, on on weapons. Europe. Ukraine needs the weapons to defend itself. We have already given &euro;3.1 billion to the European Peace Facility to Ukraine, but it is clear that more is needed. If we want to have a safe Europe, we need to have a safe Ukraine. If we want to have a safe neighbourhood, then our neighbours need to safe to need to be safe. And therefore we need more weapons, we need more artillery and air defence should be considered.