Interview with Italian MEP Danilo Della Valle: The European left has forgotten the Ukrainians who are victims of war

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Monday October 28, 2024 10:11 by Piotr Jastrzebski

While Irish officials continue to promote pro war agenda and neglect the migration crisis spiriling out of control, Italy calls for demilitarised Europe with the focus on Europeans.

There is a growing front in the European Parliament that fears an overly militarised Europe. MEP Danilo Della Valle ('The Left') has taken the initiative to ask MEPs to set up an intergroup for peace in Brussels to promote a path favourable to a negotiated settlement of the conflict in Ukraine (and not only there).

As a member of the European Parliament, how do you assess the work of the previous European Parliament? Does the European Parliament today address the pressing issues that are important for European citizens? How do you assess the effectiveness of the EU's international policy, in particular the EU's position on the conflict in Ukraine?

From a purely political point of view, I certainly cannot be satisfied with the final work delivered during the previous term. The European Commission started out with the aim of focusing on ecological transition and taking more account social issues, but at the end of the mandate there was a sharp setback returning to the logic of austerity and an increasingly worrying increase in military policies. The European Parliament, even in this legislation, seems more concerned with advancing the geopolitical interests of the USA and NATO, rather than worrying about the many problems that EU citizens have, such as rising energy costs, inflation or low wages. The EU's position on the war in Ukraine is a concrete example of this attitude. The countries of the Union should have avoided in every way the possibility of a war on their doorstep, using diplomatic tools to guarantee peace and security and instead they were crushed in the clash between NATO and Russia.

How do you assess the new composition of the European Parliament? What changes in the adoption of political, economic and social initiatives do you expect? What are your priorities for the current parliamentary term?

The composition of the new parliament does not give hope for major changes in economic or foreign policy. The cross-party majority that unites EPP, S&D, Renew up to ECR seems to go to the opposite direction to what should be the priorities for European citizens in this historical phase. They continue to apply the same failed political recipes for more than twenty years now. Our priority remains to respond to the mandate of the citizens who elected us, trying to work hard to shift the EU's center of gravity towards peace and social justice.

On the 19th of September you voted against the EP resolution on Continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States. Why did you vote against it? What are the contents of this resolution? What are the implications of this resolution for the European Union?

As 5 Star MEPs we have a clear mandate, also expressed in our electoral program, for diplomacy and peace. Almost 3 years after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the choices of Western countries have proven inconclusive and Europe has lost its authority at an international level.
That resolution proposes to remove all limitations on the use of weapons, supplied by EU countries, in being able to strike even on Russian territory. This would mean admitting a direct involvement of Europe in the conflict, with unthinkable consequences. Poland is one of the countries that would pay the highest cost if a nuclear war happens. The parties that voted for this resolution in their countries avoid telling the truth, that is, if diplomacy is not chosen, these choices will only lead to a direct confrontation between NATO and Russian armies. Moreover, an important part of the European left has forgotten the oppressed in Ukraine who are the first victims of the bombs, they are the ones who pay the highest price of any war. A left that does not betray itself can only be on the side of peace without if and without but. All the rest are the usual arguments used to justify sending weapons to Ukraine. The progressive forces must return to listening to the citizens, their demands and their sufferings, in a single concept cannot betray the values of peace which are intrinsic to the European project. We will be against the possibility of an armed conflict involving European citizens and we think that instead the EU should work seriously to restart the dialogue and a new peace process involving all the actors involved in the conflict.

Can we expect the EU to return to a diplomatic dialogue to resolve the conflict in Ukraine in a diplomatic way?

As I have already said, I do not have great expectations regarding the possible actions that the majority of this Parliament can implement. Even on other issues, such as the genocide that the Netanyahu government is carrying out in Gaza, it remains stuck in its double standards and geopolitical balancing acts. Even if most parties remain stuck in positions that we consider to be failures, the recent election result should make the parties that were the main sponsors of the war and austerity policies, which were the ones that lost the most consensus in their respective countries of origin, reflect. Only strong action, like the one we are carrying out, and positions that radically go against the trend, especially on the issue of war, can be a hope for restarting dialogue and diplomatic processes.