Juncker’s message to Moscow and Kyiv

Yesterday, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of European Commission, gave the annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament. In his first report since being elected to this position, Juncker spent more than forty minutes elaborating on the problem of refugees; among other problems of the Union he mentioned the economic situation, the conflict in Ukraine, the climate change and the possible British withdrawal from the EU.

Describing the situation in the EU, Juncker emphasized the lack of unity. “There is a lack of Europe in the European Union, and lack of union in the EU,” he asserted. According to him, the EU might improve the protection of refugees, but it should strengthen the border protection and expel more illegal immigrants. Juncker stressed that he will offer a “swift, determined and comprehensive response” to the refugee crisis, caused through the “war, terror and instability in our neighborhood.”

In his speech, Juncker said that Europeans should remember that they live on a continent where everyone was once a refugee at some point in history. He added that 20 million Poles are currently living outside Poland, apparently alluding to Warsaw, which does not want to accept refugees. “We Europeans should know and should never forget why giving refuge and complying with the fundamental right to asylum is so important,” asserted the commission’s president. According to him, it is not a time now to be afraid of the refugee influx, but to employ decisive and coordinated action in order to address this problem.

“We need more Europe in our asylum policy. We need more Union in our refugee policy,” he stressed.

The European Commission President confirmed the plans of appealing to member states in order to agree upon the mechanism for “emergency relocation” that would help distributing asylum seekers, who flooded Italy, Greece, and Hungary. Juncker called on Member States to support the Commission’s proposal to redistribute 160,000 refugees on September 14. Additionally, according to Juncker, this proposal would include an agreement on the permanent mechanism for the future and on the list of safe countries of origin, whose citizens will not have the right to asylum in the EU.

In his speech, Juncker has also mentioned Ukraine: “We will do everything to have the European Council grant Ukraine the visa-free regime once all the necessary conditions are fulfilled. As Guy Verhofstadt [leader of the Liberals and Democrats political bloc] had said a few months ago in this very room, Maidan was not only about the democracy and the EU membership. The people in Ukraine then wanted, and now want to live in a country devoid of corruption. Ukrainian Democrats want to free the country from corruption and we must help them in this task.”

In addition, he appealed to the EU countries that border Russia and were formerly controlled by the Soviet Union: “We need unity when it comes to the security of our Eastern Member States, notably the Baltics and Poland. The security and the borders of EU Member States are untouchable. I want this to be understood very clearly in Moscow. These states know that solidarity is not an empty word, we are here and will be here whenever it would be necessary.”

COMMENTARY

“EUROPEANS AND UKRAINIANS HAVE FINALLY STARTED TO THINK IN ONE COMMON DIRECTION AND EVERYTHING NOW DEPENDS ON US: HOW QUICKLY WE WILL BE ABLE TO PASS THROUGH THIS PATH”

Volodymyr OHRYZKO, ex-foreign minister of Ukraine, Kyiv:

“No European politician, especially of such rank as Juncker, can afford to skip the issue of what is happening in Ukraine today. Russian aggression against Ukraine has put the world on the edge of an abyss. Allowing Russia to go further will mean the beginning of a new, very dangerous – if not murderous – stage of the human civilization. Therefore one should not avoid discussing the things that pose an essential threat to the Western values. And it is good that Europe develops an understanding of Ukraine’s importance in the fight for these values, for freedom, for the people’s right to their own opinion, for the right of nations to their own development. I believe that those key points that we have heard in this speech on Ukraine, in particular the readiness of the European Union to make another step towards us and finally give Ukrainians the possibility to move freely around Europe, and also the desire to help Ukraine in overcoming the equally monstrous enemy, which is corruption that corrodes and destroys a state from the middle – I believe that they are the evidence that Europeans and Ukrainians have finally started thinking in a one common direction and everything now depends on us, on how quickly we will be able to pass through this path. From one side, the hands of the European Union and NATO – in the coming days we expect the Secretary General’s visit to Ukraine – are open, so we just need to reach them with our own hands and help ourselves. And then we will be able to achieve the results we need.”

Juncker did not explicitly mention the Russian aggression in Ukraine, but only hinted Moscow that the borders of EU member states are untouchable. How should we, in Ukraine, decipher this statement of the European Commission President?

“It is also a very clear and understandable position that the European Union will defend its values. After all, speaking about the members of the European Union, we should clearly understand that the majority of these states also constitute the NATO alliance, and it means that its boundary is truly the boundary of the values. We understand that the European Union and the countries of NATO will not allow Russia to do what it has planed, namely return the world to the right of the strongest. Therefore, certainly, the European community will defend itself by all means possible. Thus, it is a signal, I believe, also for us. If we want to be in the family of protected nations, we must do everything to speed up on this way. Returning to our domestic problems, a frontline no less important than the one against Russian aggression is an internal one: the fight against corruption and rapid reforms. And when we complete this task, we will find ourselves among the civilized countries of Europe, and only then our eastern border will become the civilization boundary between democracy and barbarism.”