Today, a scheduled meeting of the European Parliament took place, at which Ursula von der Leyen summed up the results of the year and announced an action plan for the following year. The meeting was attended by a special guest — first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska. To please our lady and show solidarity with Ukraine, members of the European Parliament were dressed in the colours of the Ukrainian flag — yellow and blue.
During her report, Ursula von der Leyen made statements about Ukraine, the unity of the EU's steadfastness in the face of Russian aggression, and the importance of continuing sanctions pressure on a country whose values do not coincide with those of a progressive, free and democratic world. Ursula von der Leyen stressed that EU solidarity with Ukraine would be "unshakeable."
In response to the sanctions, Russia has reduced and temporarily stopped gas supplies to the countries of the European Union. This provoked a rise in prices and inflation in 27 states. However, the president of the European Commission said: "This is the time for us to show resolve, not appeasement. We are in it for the long haul".
"And I stand here with the conviction that with courage and solidarity, Putin will fail and Europe will prevail," Ursula von Der Leyen added to the word that sanctions cannot be eased, no matter what manipulations Russia takes.
The European Commission president has unveiled a range of proposals to help European households, including measures to reduce electricity consumption, limit income from low-cost electricity producers and force fossil fuel companies to share the profits they make from soaring energy prices.
"Making ends meet is becoming a source of anxiety for millions of businesses and households".
"In these times, it is wrong to receive extraordinary record revenues and profits benefiting from war and on the back of our consumers. In these times, profits must be shared and channelled to those who need it most."
|Russia's financial sector is on life-support,| the president said, adding that thousands of European companies have left the Russian market. "The Russian military is taking chips from dishwashers and refrigerators to fix their military hardware because they ran out of semiconductors. Russia's industry is in tatters."
Ursula von der Leyen said the European bloc had diversified its activities and prepared for a period of peak electricity consumption. However, Moscow continues to actively manipulate the market, which has led to a rise in prices by more than 10 times.
Paying her respects to the late Elizabeth II, Ursula von der Lein appropriately quoted Her Majesty: "We will succeed – and that success will belong to every one of us."
