Illustration photo – Meeting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on March 14, 2023.
Strasbourg – MEPs will present their priorities and expectations for the upcoming summit of the European Union, which will take place next week in Brussels, at a debate with the President of the European Council Charles Michel and probably also the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Strasbourg today. The heads of both EU institutions and the MPs will also look back on the previous summit in February, which was also attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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The war in Ukraine is expected to be one of the leading topics for the meetings of the presidents and prime ministers of the member states, along with the competitiveness of the European single market, energy and ways to strengthen the EU economy. Efforts to green the transformation of the economy are now reflected in almost all the economic policies of the Union, which entails the search for solutions both in Europe and beyond its borders. For example, a reaction to American subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will be sought.
At the February summit, von der Leyen discussed with Zelensky the tenth package of European sanctions against Russia. The package was definitively accepted by the Union at the end of February, but Kyiv already called on the bloc at the beginning of March to “as soon as possible” start work on further sanctions. Last week in Washington, Von der Leyen, after meeting with US President Joe Biden, declared that the EU's priority will now be to enforce the sanctions already in place and prevent their circumvention. the provision of military aid to Ukraine for as long as necessary and called for a thorough assessment of whether it would be possible to supply Western fighter jets, helicopters and suitable missile systems to Ukraine.
