Hosted by the Folketing, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Annual Session took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from 6 to 9 October 2023.
Parliament members representing 31 NATO member states, along with members from around 25 partner countries and parliamentary bodies had the opportunity to address the key topics on the Euro-Atlantic defence and security agenda and assess the outcomes and key decisions taken at July’s NATO Summit in Vilnius.
“In Vilnius, NATO leaders agreed to strengthen our defence and deterrence across all domains and against all threats and challenges. To speed up our transformation in the face of urgency. It’s ambitious, but where there is a will, there is a way. A way ahead, together … as a team,” said NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, General Philippe Lavigne, in his address to the Parliamentary Assembly.
After hearing an appeal for international unity in the face of aggression and terrorism from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly urged Allied governments to “stand by Ukraine until victory is achieved”.
President Zelenskyy addressed the meeting by video-link from Kyiv. He urged free nations to stand firm against terror, from Hamas attacks on Israel to Russia’s illegal and brutal war on Ukraine.
“A terrorist group is attacking Israel; a terrorist state is attacking Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told the Assembly. “How far can such evil go? No further than we allow it to. Our unity must and should stop the evil.”
“We must – again and again – reaffirm our firm support for Ukraine, its democracy, independence and sovereignty; its right to self-defence and self-determination,” stated Polish lawmaker Michal Szczerba, who was elected as President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly at the Assembly’s Annual Session in Copenhagen. “We must step up and speed up our support – for as long as it takes for Ukraine to win,” he told lawmakers at the session’s closing Plenary Sitting.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana backed Ukraine’s membership and insisted the Alliance would stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.
“The rightful place of Ukraine as an independent, sovereign nation is within the Euro-Atlantic family and as a full member of our alliance,” he told the Plenary. “We must support the fearless Ukrainian forces in their defence of freedom and liberty, also our freedom and liberty.”
The Assembly, which serves as a crucial link between NATO, national parliaments and citizens, underscored the role of legislators in maintaining support for Ukraine among governments and the public.
“All members and parties of the Danish Parliament stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine in its fight for freedom,” Søren Gade, Speaker of Denmark’s Parliament, the Folketing. “The Ukrainians do not only fight for their survival. They also fight for our democratic values.”
