Crimea: referendum illegitimate and illegal
Date
17 Mar 2014
Sections
Europe's East
The President of the European People's Party (EPP) and Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, Joseph Daul, made the following statement on today's so-called referendum in Crimea, Ukraine:
“The results of today’s referendum are like the chronicle of a death foretold where the citizens of Crimea, under Russian bayonets, had actually only one option. The referendum has been organised by a self-proclaimed and illegitimate authority in violation of the Ukrainian and Crimean constitutions and therefore we do not recognise its results. Crimea is part of Ukraine, which is a sovereign state with a legitimate government. We will not accept any changes to the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine,” said Joseph Daul.
The leader of the largest political family in Europe makes a strong call for Russia’s international isolation: “If a country wants to be treated as a partner, as an equal, then certain behaviour is no longer acceptable in the XXI century. Sanctions against it must be applied immediately. On behalf of the EPP political family I call on the international institutions to suspend Russia from the G-8, OSCE, I will ask our EPP Group colleagues at the Council of Europe to do the same by invoking Article 8. I welcome the postponement of the accession of Russia to OECD.”
The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 274 Members from 27 Member States.
MEP Contacts
Joseph DAUL
BRU - Tel: +32 (0)2 2845525 Fax: +32 (0)2 2849525
STR - Tel: +33 (0)3 88 175525 Fax: +33 (0)3 88 179525
Press Contacts
Delia Vlase
Phone: +32 476 33 10 38
E-mail: delia.vlase@europarl.europa.eu
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