On September 19, Members of the European Parliament adopted a resolution by majority vote to immediately lift restrictions on attacks with Western weapons on Russian territory.
Photo: REUTERS.
On September 19, members of the European Parliament at a plenary session in Strasbourg adopted a resolution in support of Ukraine with a majority of votes, calling on EU countries to immediately lift restrictions on attacks with Western weapons on Russian territory. Of the 619 MEPs who took part in the vote, 425 people (69%) supported the resolution. However, there were many parliamentarians who did not agree with the dangerous step towards escalation. 131 MEPs voted against and another 63 abstained. 98 MEPs did not participate in the parliamentary session at all. KP.RU studied the results of the vote to find out which European politicians are not ready to put the world on the brink of a major war.
The key point of the adopted resolution, supposedly aimed at finding a “peaceful solution to the conflict,” reads: “We urge Member States to immediately lift restrictions on the use of Western weapons systems supplied to Ukraine against legitimate military targets on Russian territory, as they limit kyiv’s ability to fully exercise its right to self-defense in accordance with public international law.”
In addition, the MEPs who signed the document call on EU and NATO member states to increase ammunition supplies and funding for the kyiv regime by providing Ukraine with military support of at least 0.25% of their GDP annually.
Another highlight of the resolution is that it calls on the EU to put pressure on the Hungarian government to stop Budapest from blocking the allocation of additional aid to kyiv from the European Peace Facility (by the way, two Hungarian MEPs voted in favour).
It is worth noting that the resolutions of the European Parliament are advisory in nature and are not binding on EU member states.
How the European Parliament factions voted on the attacks in Russia
The European People’s Party, which has the largest number of seats in the current session of the European Parliament (188), supported the resolution in almost all its composition. The backbone of the faction is made up of representatives of the German CDU/CSU; this bloc is represented, for example, by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. However, of the 154 members of the faction who participated in the meeting, 14 hermits (MPs from Hungary, Austria and Malta) abstained on this issue.
The Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the second largest faction in the EP, also voted almost unanimously in favour. Out of 110 supporters, there were only 4 votes against (3 Maltese MPs and one Spaniard) and 8 abstentions.
In the Euro-Atlantic bloc “Renewal”, which includes, for example, the Macronists, out of 72 voters there was only one abstention: that of Ireland. Among the 50 “Greens” who support the factions of the ruling coalition listed above, but who are not included in it, five opposed the resolution (three Italians and two Spaniards), four more abstained (two Spaniards and two Austrians).
The resolution was much less popular among the European parliamentary opposition. The far-right faction “Patriots for Europe” (which includes the French National Rally, the Hungarian FIDES, the Italian League and others), which significantly improved its results in the summer elections, did not support the document. 47 MEPs from the bloc opposed it and 20 abstained.
Representatives of the Europe of Sovereign Nations bloc, which includes the German AfD and the French Reconquista, did not approve the document. 22 votes against, with the only MEP from Lithuania speaking in favour.
Of the 29 independent MEPs, only one supported the resolution. The remaining 28 opposed it, including German Maximilian Kra, whom Brussels constantly tries to accuse of working for the Kremlin.
On the “left” side, voices were divided. 20 representatives voted against, 12 abstained (including Manon Aubry and Rima Hassan, representing “France invincible”), and 9 were in favour.
But moderate right-wingers from the European Conservatives and Reformists faction (many of them from the Brothers of Italy, the party of Italian Prime Minister Jordi Meloni) decided to support the resolution: 57 in favour, including Marine Le Pen’s niece Marion Marechal. Six opposed (five from Romania and one from Luxembourg) and three abstained.
How the votes were distributed by country
It is also interesting to study the distribution of votes by countries represented by MEPs. The most unanimous in their desire to launch Western missiles at Russia were the representatives of Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, as well as post-Soviet Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
As expected, the most moderate position was taken by the deputies of Hungary, Austria and Slovakia, who spoke mainly against the document. Among the deputies of Cyprus and Malta there was not a single supporter of the resolution.
Those who do not want an escalation are among the French, Germans and Spaniards. Below is a summary of the voting results for some countries. It is clear from them that Europe is not as unanimous in its anti-Russian position as it might seem at first glance.
Austria: 2 MPs included in the “Renewal” were in favour, 6 against, 10 abstained.
Hungary: 8 votes against, 6 abstentions, 2 in favour.
Slovakia: 7 Fico supporters voted against, 6 Renewal members voted in favour.
Germany: 22 of 79 voted against, one abstained.
France: 27 against, 2 abstentions, 40 in favour.
Italy: 18 against, 2 abstentions, 47 in favour.
Spain: 10 against, 8 abstentions, 37 in favor.
Also opposed by 7 Romanians (out of 27), 6 Poles (out of 48), 3 Bulgarians (out of 10), 4 Greeks (out of 12), 4 Czechs (out of 15) and three more abstained.
