The European Parliament reviews EU candidate countries' progress each year based on a European Commission report. The chamber held a debate Tuesday and will adopt a resolution Wednesday. Nearly all political groups submitted amendments addressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to name a military unit after the "Heroes of the UPA [Ukrainian Insurgent Army]".
In Ukraine, the UPA is seen primarily as a partisan force that resisted Stalin's rule after 1945. In Poland, the organization is remembered for the mass killing of tens of thousands of Polish civilians in what is now western Ukraine between 1943 and 1945.
MEP Andrzej Halicki, speaking for the center-right European People's Party (EPP), said Ukrainians want a European future for their country and the EU wants a European Ukraine, which requires consistent reforms, rule of law and a genuine fight against corruption.
"But respect for shared European values is also essential", Halicki said.
"Within the Community, we cannot glorify those whose activities were based on fighting minorities, including acts of a genocidal nature", he said, adding: "If we as the European Parliament recall this fact, we do so to repeat one message: you choose your own future, but if you want to be in the Community, you must respect its values. Not a single euro can be spent on units named after criminals responsible for genocide".
The resolution to be adopted Wednesday was drafted by German MEP Michael Gahler, who said he regretted that the debate focused on the UPA commemoration rather than the accession process itself.
"I consider this a political mistake, as it hurts the feelings of Polish citizens and descendants of other victims. The fact that these UPA groups also fought against Stalin and for Ukrainian statehood can in no way balance, neutralize or even justify the atrocities committed. No person or organization can be judged selectively for their actions", Gahler said.
MEP Michał Dworczyk, representing the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, said Ukraine's reforms to align with European standards should be recognized, but that European integration also means fidelity to the EU's founding values, including historical truth and respect for victims.
"That is why we consider absolutely unacceptable the decision to name an elite unit of Ukraine's Armed Forces after the Heroes of the UPA, a formation responsible for the massacre of about 100,000 civilians, mainly Polish women and children, though victims also included Jews, Czechs and Ukrainians who tried to save their neighbors", he said.
MEP Adam Bielan said no one in Poland doubts the enemy is in Moscow. "This is not an appeal against the Ukrainian nation, only against the policy of its authorities. As Poles, we have the moral right to say no. Ukraine will not join the EU with [nationalist leader] Bandera", he said.
Asked by German Green MEP Sergey Lagodinsky how he responds to praise from the Kremlin, which welcomed the fact that the Polish right, along with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, now agrees with Russia that "Nazis" rule in Kyiv, Bielan said: "I am very saddened that Putin is pleased with President Zelensky's decision, but I would look among President Zelensky's entourage for Kremlin agents who advised him to glorify the UPA's murderers".
The EPP proposed an amendment, to be voted on Wednesday, calling on Parliament to declare Zelensky's decision to name the elite military unit after the Heroes of the UPA unnecessary and unprovoked, and to express regret over the disregard for Polish sensitivities related to the Volhynia massacre.
The ECR proposed calling on Parliament to demand that no further negotiating clusters be opened until Ukraine acknowledges the ethnic cleansing campaign carried out against Poles by the UPA, as well as mass atrocities committed against the Jewish population.
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Source: PAP, Polish Radio