Romanian Parliament holds special sitting for Ukraine
Romania's Senate and Chamber of Deputies hold joint sitting to mark one year of war in Ukraine.
Roxana Vasile, 28.02.2023, 13:50
Romania’s Parliament on Monday held a special sitting to mark one
year since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022.
Romanian senators and deputies condemned the military aggression and
promised that Romania would continue to support the neighbouring
country. The Liberal MP Sorin Cîmpeanu sent a strong message:
No country can stay silent. We stand by you and will help you for
as long as necessary.
Another Liberal MP, Nicoleta Pauliuc, focused on Romania’s
important role in the current geopolitical context:
We have demonstrated that we have embraced the European principles
and values, that we are playing an important role in the architecture
of the Western world, as a bulwark at the eastern border of the
European Union and NATO.
Her Social Democrat colleague in the ruling coalition Radu Oprea said
NATO and the European Union have boosted their support, something he
said must continue, and provided a stark reminder:
Millions of people have fled the war. More than 3.5 million have
crossed the Romanian border. The Romanian people have welcomed them
with open arms, showing compassion, decency, empathy.
Ukraine’s chance of victory is Europe’s chance with respect to
defending and promoting freedom and democracy, emphasised Turos
Lóránd, from the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania:
Freedom must be protected, must be defended. The rights violations
committed by Russia are not restricted to Ukraine’s territory.
We’re dealing in fact with a war against the free world.
From among the opposition parties, Radu Mihail, from the Save Romania
Union, said:
We must endorse openly and by vote that Russia is behaving like a
terrorist state and that Romania stands in solidarity with the victim
terrorised this past year, Ukraine!
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians also
condemned any form of military aggression. However, it also alluded
to the situation of the ethnic Romanian minority in Ukraine and the
fears about damage to the Danube Delta ecosystem in light of recent
reports about Ukrainian plans to dredge
the Bystroye
canal
on the Danube river. Claudiu Târziu, from the Alliance for the Union
of Romanians:
We can’t just
stand by and watch the process of forced assimilation to which the
ethnic Romanians are subjected to in Ukraine and we can’t ignore
that Ukraine may well destroy the entire Danube Delta out of
self-interest.
Ukraine’s
ambassador to Romania Ihor Prokopchuk, who attended the special
sitting of the Romanian Parliament, conveyed his country’s
gratitude for the support provided by Romania on all levels, adding
that Ukraine will resist and will prevail. (CM)
