Ukraine must be admitted to NATO and the European Union, and there are no alternatives, said Rihards Kols, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Head of the Latvian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday, 25 January, during the annual foreign policy debate in the Saeima. The Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee emphasised that the outcome of the war in Ukraine will determine the security of Europe, the United States and the world in the coming decades. Ukraine’s victory is important for the strengthening and prospering of democracy.

If we are interested in restoring geopolitical credibility, legitimacy of norms and institutions, and global stability, we need to contain and stop both current and potential aggressors, said Kols. 

As long as Russia keeps the initiative and is able to operate its war machine, it will continue escalation, said Kols. Giving in to weariness would mean the end of Ukraine. Chair Kols said that all forces must be mobilised so that Ukraine can launch projectile attacks from its territory on the aggressor’s land until the victory for as long as necessary. He, also stated that two per cent of gross domestic product is a minimum defence budget.

This is not just Russia’s war against Ukraine. This is the war of Russia and its allies against the West, aiming to destabilise the entire world, emphasised Kols, adding that in the past the Western countries mistakenly assumed that Russia and China were approaching the West on the fundamental issues of the world order. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an opportunity to come to senses and change, said Kols, highlighting the paradigm shift in Europe.

Rihards Kols mentioned such alarming trends as conflicts, increasing rivalry between countries and global decline of democracy, indicating that the main cause of this is the revival of authoritarianism. The Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee indicated that only 20 per cent of the world’s 7.9 billion people live in free countries. The international environment is increasingly fragmented, the gap is deepened by the war in Gaza and the diplomatic dominance of Europe and the United States is also diminishing.

This year will be the biggest election year in the world’s history, as almost half of the world’s population in more than 60 countries will go to vote in presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections this year, said Kols, indicating that the outcome of the elections in the US and the European Parliament will have a strong impact on the whole world.

For Europe, this is the moment to confirm to itself and others that democracies are investing in other democracies. It should be an iron-clad principle at a global level, said Kols. In choosing between values and conveniences, values should always prevail. European sanctions must finally become an effective tool in the fight against aggressors, stressed Rihards Kols.

Saeima Press Service