The Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU Ivanna
Klympush-Tsintsadze met with representatives of the Budget Committee of
the German Bundestag. They came to Ukraine to assess the situation on the
ground and to determine, in which areas Ukraine most needs support. Ivanna
Klympush-Tsintsadze thanked Germany and the German people for helping
Ukraine. “We hope that this aid will increase. We need weapons to defend
ourselves, the advocacy of Ukraine in the world and support on the way to
European integration,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. Regarding the
progress on the way to the EU, she expressed hope that the EU will approve
a negotiating framework for Ukraine already in June this year. Then
Ukraine will be able to focus on the tasks it has to complete.
The Chair of the Committee emphasised that Ukraine urgently needs means of
air defence because Russia kills Ukrainians every day and destroys its
energy infrastructure. Also, Ukraine is in dire need of artillery shells.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze stressed the importance of the bilateral
security agreement between Ukraine and Germany. At the same time, she
emphasised that in no way bilateral agreements may be considered as a
substitute for Ukraine's membership in NATO. “Only Ukraine's membership in
the Alliance can guarantee not only our security in the long term but also
the security of the entire continent and the preservation of the
international legal order. We understand that there is currently no
appetite to invite Ukraine to NATO, however, from my point of view, this
is a big mistake,” said the Chair of the Committee.
She stressed the need to protect Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
According to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, at the beginning of the
full-scale invasion, Russia, when attacking the energy system, focused
mostly on energy transmission facilities. Therefore, Ukraine managed to
quickly find resources and conduct repairs. Today, the Russian Federation
destroys electricity generation. The Chair of the Committee emphasised
that to protect the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, unanimity in the EU
is needed to support the German initiative regarding providing Ukraine
with air defence. Also, according to her, Ukraine needs investments and
support in rebuilding the energy infrastructure for both state and private
players. No less important is the sanctions pressure on the Russian
Federation, in particular, the introduction of sanctions against the
Russian energy giant Rosatom.
During the meeting, internal political processes in Ukraine were also
discussed. Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze emphasised that even under martial
law, the state system remains fully functional. At the same time,
according to the Chair of the Committee, the cooperation between the
branches of power needs to be restarted. “It is necessary to reach a new
level of communication and quality cooperation between the Parliament, the
Government and the President,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.