Addressing instability in the bloc’s Eastern flank
Sophia Constantinescu, UN Reporter
During the meeting, several European countries were present to discuss urgent matters concerning Europe, specifically Eastern Europe. Concerns such as the war which is currently happening in Ukraine and their worries about what might happen due to cutting Russia out were heard the most.
Lithuania has spoken about how they support military action and shared their worries as to how they are “facing a lot of danger”. They also talked about protecting the economy and about how they think that more precautions should be taken. The Delegation of Lithuania also announced that Poland should be prepared to financially support Lithuania and on top of that they said that more funding should go towards Ukraine’s cause.
Poland announced that the instability always worried Poland’s people and government. The delegation of Poland is highly concerned as they already suffered from the refugee crisis. They said that they should stop sharing energy with Russia and they declared energetic independence. They also announced that they encourage any economic sanctions towards Russia. They also congratulated Romania for their nuclear plant as it could help a lot with the crisis going on.
The Netherlands said and I quote “this war cannot be forgotten” and “this war must absolutely be stopped”, they said that they support all the sanctions. Hungary also stated that this war is terrible and that they support cohesive actions. Slovakia commented that thousands of lives are suffering and that many innocent lives have been taken. They said that they are trying their hardest to help anyone in this war. Hungary asked Slovakia if they agree and support the sanctions towards Russia but they didn’t respond.
Bulgaria pronounced that countries which are currently developing cannot afford to sustain their own energy, however, France stated that for a solution they can look for nuclear energy as it is very efficient and does not impose that much of a cost. Lithuania said that they would have a hard time as they relied on Russia for energy and that they don’t have any nuclear resources. In addition, Denmark announced that cutting down Russia could be very harmful for their economy and Spain stated that the EU should invest in European energy.
Denmark said that they accept all refugees no matter if they don’t have visa or ID cards and Denmark also pronounced that they shall support the refugees. Bulgaria thinks that the matter with highest degree of priority is to produce the refugees’ safety and France said that they would give tents and blankets in Ukraine or in Ukraine’s bordering countries to give to refugees. Poland is happy to see that everyone is supporting the fact that everyone agrees that they should help refugees.
Despite the instability finding its way into Eastern Europe, it was great to see Western countries with a high influential power such as Germany and France taking the lead over the debate and looking to find solutions to different difficulties.