Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima and Head of the Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is currently in Paris, the capital of France, to participate in the meetings of the PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, the PACE Bureau, and the Bureau’s ad hoc Committee on the situation with Ukrainian children.
“Our moral and existential duty is to support Ukraine, however necessary, to help withstand and overcome Russia’s aggression. It would only be fair if the seized Russian state assets were to be used for reconstructing bridges and houses, hospitals and schools that Russia has destroyed and keeps destroying,” emphasised the Deputy Speaker of the Saeima while discussing support for the reconstruction of Ukraine at the meeting of the PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy.
Kalniņa-Lukaševica underlined that Russia’s dictator has recently announced Russia’s military budget for 2024, attempting to sway our commitment and threaten our societies that nothing could stop Russia’s goal of ‘devouring’ Ukraine. “We have a great response to that—an even larger financial amount that we can direct for the benefit of Ukraine—the frozen Russian state assets to be used for the reconstruction of the very same objects that Russia is attempting to destroy in Ukraine. Meanwhile, of course, we must continue our military support for Ukraine,” stated Kalniņa-Lukaševica.
We have taken the proper steps to comply with the rule of law and legal principles. Apparently, freezing assets and property is not enough to deter the aggressor state. We need to do more. We have established the Register of Damage. Now we must create a compensation mechanism and start directing Russian state funds towards the reconstruction of Ukraine. The people of Ukraine need it now,” stressed the Deputy Speaker.
The Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy discussed a draft report prepared by Lulzim Basha on the support for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Discussion participants emphasised that the Resolution “Furtherance of remedy and reparation for aggression against Ukraine” adopted on 14 November 2022 by the UN General Assembly clearly lays down the foundation for compensation requests and provides suggestions for national and international actions. In addition, prerequisites are provided for specific procedural actions according to international law.
As stated in the report currently drafted by the MPs, if Russia does not respect the requirements of the UN Resolution, it could be the basis for taking justified countermeasures, including the confiscation of assets and redirecting them for the reconstruction of Ukraine to help honour international law commitments. Currently, the amount of frozen Russian assets has reached about EUR 300 billion across multiple countries.
In addition, at the meeting of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, MPs elected Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica Rapporteur on foreign interference as a threat to security of democracy in Europe. Kalniņa-Lukaševica emphasised that the report will be of great importance, taking into account the role of the Council of Europe in protecting democracy.
In the report, the Deputy Speaker of the Saeima will pay special attention to the attempts of foreign powers to influence democratic societies via social networks, disinformation, and cyber-attacks. Moreover, it is particularly important to follow the development of artificial intelligence and its potential impact on democratic processes. The report should also bring into focus risks posed to our democracies by corruption and the malicious interference of third countries in elections.
The Council of Europe has 46 member states and six observer states. PACE is one of its largest and most visible institutions. Its actions are directed towards the upholding of the fundamental values and standards of the Council of Europe. The main objective of PACE is to strengthen the parliaments of its member states, promote and protect human rights, the rule of law, and democratic governance in all European countries. CoE states are represented in PACE by members of their national parliaments. The Saeima has appointed an official delegation, tasking six MPs from different parliamentary groups with representing the Latvian Parliament in PACE.
Saeima Press Service