During the 106th Plenary session of the Committee of the Regions, the CoR members hosted Mr Volodymyr Groysman, Deputy Prime Minister for Regional Policy in the current government of Ukraine and Mr Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy. The two speakers agreed with the CoR members that a common goal is to build a democratic, decentralised and independent Ukraine with full financial, political and moral support of the European Union.
Speaking on behalf of the European Alliance group, Mr Stanisław Szwabski, the President of Gdynia City Council said that the European Union must guarantee the integrity of Ukraine and stressed that the forthcoming elections should represent an expression of the will of Ukrainian people, free of any foreign interference, either from Russia or from the West. Mr Szwabski described Russian arguments for the annexation of Crimea as hypocritical but also emphasised that the EU's failure to respond to Russian actions and support Ukraine in an adequate manner show that the EU is unacceptably weak in international politics.
In the end, as the co-chair of the CoR's Joint Consultative Committee with Montenegro, Mr Szwabski expressed satisfaction with the country's progress in the EU accession process and described the forthcoming Adriatic-Ionian Initiative as an excellent opportunity to strengthen Montenegro's cooperation with the neighbouring countries.
Press coverage
Głos Gdyni
