Mayors of 300 European cities demand Europe to stop financing the war in Ukraine. The joint video appeal strengthens the statement of the EU Parliament to cease the import of Russian oil, gas, and coal immediately.
Watch the video on UBC YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3Xs_4m381U
While Ukraine is defending European values, we Europeans pay almost one billion dollars a day to finance Vladimir Putin’s army – by buying Russian oil, gas, and coal. European countries cannot take part in financing Russia’s government while Russia continues its assault on Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, the Mayors emphasize in their video statement.
Mayors from Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, and Czech Republic demand immediate actions from the European Commission and the European Council.
From the beginning of the war, European governments have paid almost 50 billion Euros to the Russian administration, mostly from the imports of oil and gas. In terms of numbers, European governments’ support for Ukraine is incomparably smaller than its financial support to the regime which started an unprovoked destruction of whole Ukrainian cities like Kharkov or Mariupol, where until now no humanitarian corridors were allowed, the statement says.
European Mayors gathered for the first time on March 15 and issued the Joint Call of 100 Mayors to the EU and its member states – the Joint Call from Mariupol. The call was soon after reaffirmed by the executive committee Global Parliament of Mayors. On April 7 this demand was strengthened by the European Parliament which adopted an even stronger resolution, calling also to step up delivery of weapons to allow Ukraine to defend itself. In the meantime, the group of mayors demanding more decisive action rose from 100 to 300 cities.
On April 28, on the day of the plenary session of the EU Committee of the Regions, the Joint Call of Mayors is being reinforced by the special short video of 12 among the 300 mayors which was released in the social media and once again sent to the European Commission, European Council and 27 prime ministers of the EU.
Full Mayors’ press release is attached.
The video can be found in UBC YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwkMN2QlTz8