European Parliament calls for “united response” against Russian interference

From the correspondent in Strasbourg – The European Parliament has no doubts about Russian interference. The Strasbourg chamber, in plenary session, adopted with 469 votes in favour, 97 against, and 38 abstentions a resolution “for a united response against Russian violations.” A result that shows the unity of the hemicycle when it comes to common defence. 

Within the ranks of the minority, the only hesitants were on the fringes of Parliament, with The Left, Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), and a handful of Patriots—the League delegation—voting against the text.

Shooting down aerial threats

The content of the resolution is quite specific. The commitment is for “coordinated, unified, and proportionate action against all violations of their airspace, including shooting down airborne threats,” paving the way for new sanctions packages against Russia. The Parliament also considers the incursions “acts of sabotage against the EU amount to state-sponsored terrorism,” calling on the European Commission to recognise the world’s largest state “as a third country with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.” The process that the EU Parliament wants to stimulate “should cover not only crisis management, but also collective defence, including  the full capability spectrum under the national and international capability
objectives.”

The attacks have struck a chord with many parliamentarians, and a resolution with such a compact consensus shows the decisive response that Europe wants to give. Leading the way is Lucia Annunziata, Italian MEP for the Partito Democratico: “We need a Europe capable of defending itself externally, and this is possible with a new defence that it is up to us to define. A defence that is not an instrument of offence to the freedom of peoples (Article 11 of the Italian Constitution) but one that is capable of exercising deterrence, in defence of the peace and security of citizens.”

Italian Patriots oppose

Despite a broad consensus, the approach does not convince 97 MEPs, 13 of whom are Italian. Among the ranks of the opponents is Danilo Della Valle, MEP of the 5 Star Movement, part of the European group The Left: “This approach reaffirms the EU’s subordination to NATO and the US agenda, ruling out any room for diplomacy that could put an end to the conflict.” The Left’s opposition comes as no surprise. It was supported by eight Italian MEPs: Giuseppe Antoci, Mario Furore, Mimmo Lucano, Carolina Morace, Valentina Palmisano, Gaetano Pedullà, Dario Tamburrano, and Della Valle. Within the group, however, Ilaria Salis abstained, in contrast to her colleagues. 

The internal split among the Patriots was more pronounced. The Italians (Paolo Borchia, Roberto Vannacci, Silvia Sardone, Isabella Tovaglieri, and Raffaele Stancanelli) voted against the resolution, joining the ultra-right of ESN. Yesterday, 8 October, PfE MEP Pierre-Romain Thionnet and Rassemblement National said in the chamber: “Shooting everything that comes in is counterproductive, it fuels Russian propaganda portraying them as victims of the West.” When it came to the vote, however, almost all the Patriots voted to accept the resolution, driven by the affirmative stance of the French delegation, consisting of 29 parliamentarians, and their group leader, Jordan Bardella.