European Parliament president calls for “solid and swift” action if Ukraine crisis escalates

The president of the European Parliament has called for “immediate, quick, solid and swift action” in support of Ukraine, should Russia escalate the conflict.

Roberta Metsola told Euronews that “dictators” would not divide the continent, calling for unity in face of attempts to destabilise the European Union.

She was talking Euronews’s Sándor Zsiros in the Global Conversation.

Sándor Zsiros: This interview takes place on the same day as when the European Court of Justice approved the so-called rule of law mechanism, meaning that the EU can suspend payments if it sees wrongdoings in a member state. Is this a real milestone in the fight against corruption?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: Absolutely. Today's decision was, well, very much expected, waited for. We have spent months asking for a clear explanation and the dismissal of a case brought by two member state governments against a fundamental principle that the European Parliament was very much keen on negotiating and successful in negotiating during the discussions on the Multiannual Financial Framework. In other words, once you have a backsliding on the rule of law, then decisions on granting payments in this country should be made conditional to that. But it’s not only just a decision. We now expect concrete deliverables from the European Commission and that will be the sense of the vast majority of this parliament today.

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Hungary and Poland say that this is a political tool against them because of their conservative, non-liberal views. How do you see these arguments?

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament: For me, I'm a lawyer and I've always looked at the judicial institution as one that should be respected,