Address by UWC President Eugene Czolij during a Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Committees on Foreign Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union and the Parliamentary Forum for Democracy at the Parliament of Lithuania in Vilnius on 28 November 2013
21 November was a sad day for all Ukrainians because on that day the President of Ukraine has clearly demonstrated that, at best, he does not know how to negotiate in the European way, or worse, that he did a U-turn away from the EU and towards the Customs Union.
However, the good news is that three days later someone else spoke, someone more important than the current governing authorities of Ukraine, namely the people of Ukraine.
On 24 November more than 100,000 Ukrainians were on Kyiv’s EuroMaidan and substantially more in numerous EuroMaidans throughout Ukraine, demonstrating not for some social issue, not for an increase in salary, or higher pensions. They demonstrated for an ideal, they demonstrated to let Ukraine’s authorities and the EU leadership know that they embrace the EU and want to be part of the EU.
In addition, there were 45 EuroMaidans in over 20 countries in the world, including in EU member states, supporting that choice.
These demonstrations continued every day since then, including today.
Unfortunately, once again, the current governing authorities of Ukraine did not hear the call of the Ukrainian people.
Therefore, on behalf of the Ukrainian World Congress, I call upon you not to ignore the very strong and united call of the Ukrainian people to be part of the EU.
On their behalf, I call upon you to demonstrate that the EU has heard their call and is willing to immediately sign the Association Agreement as soon as the current, or any subsequent Ukrainian government authority, comes to the table to sign it.
This will be the most effective and concrete measure to support the Ukrainian people in a time of crisis, to accelerate the democratization of Ukraine and to reaffirm the obvious, namely that Ukraine is already a European country.
PLEASE NOTE: The address by Ukrainian World Congress President Eugene Czolijcan be viewed by clicking here.
