site.btaNATO Parliamentary Assembly Holds Spring Session in Sofia

NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NPA) President Michal Szczerba opened the NPA’s plenary Spring Session at Sofia’s National Palace of Culture on Monday morning.

He thanked the hosts for organizing the third NPA meeting in Bulgaria and noted that this Spring Session is taking place at a time when NATO celebrates its 75th anniversary and Bulgaria marks 20 years as member of the Alliance while his own country, Poland, marks 25 years as a member country.

The NPA President will present two very important declarations to the Parliamentary Assembly: one regarding NATO’s unwavering support and assistance for Assistance, and one regarding the Assembly’s recommendations for the NATO Summit in Washington this coming July.

“Ukraine will be weaker if we continue to support the country with half-measures,” Szczerba said in his opening speech.

“Ukraine's place is in NATO. At the NATO Summit in Washington we must make it clear that the path to Ukraine's membership is irreversible,” the NPA head said, adding that it is time to set up a centre for democratic sustainability at NATO headquarters.

“Ukraine's air defence should be a top priority, we need to make sure that Ukraine's airspace is protected,” Szczerba added. "After more than 800 days since Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine, it is easy to lose the sense of urgency, to forget what is at stake. But our friends in Ukraine are with us to remind us. To remind us that every day, every night, men, women and children are dying in Ukraine because Russia is waging war," he said. He said Ukrainians remind us that "we are next on Putin's list" if Russia wins the war.

The speaker pointed out that military support for Ukraine should be re-accelerated. “Ukraine can only defend itself if it can attack Russia's supply lines and the major operations it is conducting. It is time to understand this truth and enable Ukraine to accomplish what is necessary,” Szczerba said.

“Consider how Russia regard our countries, how it attacks our democracies, not with tanks, and yet every day we are exposed to extensive disinformation campaigns, political corruption, tens of thousands of cyber attacks, targeted assassinations, acts of sabotage, acts of terrorism, arson, explosions, and all of this is happening on NATO territory,” the NPA President said. “Let us speed up the response to these unacceptable provocations by Putin, which are aimed at NATO's borders,” he urged.

“Russia is not alone, Putin has created a club of autocracies, where his dictator friends in Minsk, Beijing, Pyongyang and Tehran organize daily campaigns to disunite our peoples and destroy our democracies,” the speaker said. “Half the world holds elections, autocratic regimes see these elections as targets to attack to make us weaker, he said. Safety and security today are not only about wars but also about defending our democracies and institutions.”

“We need to achieve at least 2% of GDP for military purposes,” the NPA President told the session. “We must show at the Washington Summit that NATO is prepared for the next generation”.