Ukraine: A struggle for the rights of all Europeans

European Alternatives condemns absolutely the violence being inflicted on protestors in Ukraine by the state authorities, which has led to at least two confirmed dead. Many Ukrainians have braved freezing temperatures to protest against a corrupt government that has shown repeatedly it has not got the best interests of its people at heart.

The protests in Ukraine are about more than a will to join the European Union or to side with Russia in geopolitical terms. They are about universal values that Europe claims to represent and advocate: democracy, liberty of speech, the right to live in peace, anti-corruption. This is about Europe in its most noble sense of a cultural commitment to these values and not in the sense of a bordered territory.

Unfortunately the actions of the European Union institutions which must defend and advance these values has been weak in its response to the violence, and is further undermined by tolerating situations of media repression, anti-democratic tendencies and abuse of fundamental rights inside the very borders of the EU.

The European Union must show it is standing strongly with the protesters, calling explicitely for international sanctions against the assets of the nomenklatura.

Ukrainians are reminding us what Europe stands for: we stand with them and all those engaged in similar struggles inside and outside the European Union.