Dialogue might not be enough to end invasion of Ukraine, EP Socialists say

The Russian invasion of Ukraine appeared to trigger a major shift in the European approach towards resorting to military force in the face of threats facing the continent.

This shift was also evident in the European Parliament, with the President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, Iratxe Garcia Perez, declaring that while dialogue and negotiations should be the key tools to solve the current escalation in Ukraine, “Civilians cannot be left to die on their own,” in an apparent moving opening to the possibility of military support to the war-torn country.

In comments given to the press on the margins of a European Parliament in Strasbourg, the MEP said that: “We do not want to leave Ukrainians who are defending the values of freedom and democracies on their own”, insisting that these were after all European values. Garcia Perez said that while work on diplomacy is ongoing, one side in the conflict is being besieged suffering attacks and casualties from another parties.

Addressing the same plenary, Josep Borrell, the EU’s de facto Foreign Minister also called for political will for Europe to strengthen its defence and security capabilities in parallel with NATO and for...