UzhNU hosted a ‘Discussion Club’ with Slovak MEPs of previous cadences
On Wednesday, 16 October, the Centre for Regional Risk Analysis and Uzhhorod National University held an expert meeting in the format of the MEP Discussion Club with MEPs from Slovakia Ivan Štefanec (2014-2019 and 2019-2024) and Vladimir Bilcik (2019-2024). The topic of the discussion with MEPs was ‘Results of the 2024 European Parliament Elections: Challenges and Opportunities for Ukraine’.
Opening the meeting, Doctor of Political Sciences, Vice-Rector of UzhNU Myroslava Lendiel greeted the Slovak politicians and expressed her sincere gratitude to the Slovak people for their comprehensive humanitarian, military, political and economic assistance to Ukraine in the first days of the Russian occupiers' attack on our country.
In her speech, Svitlana Mitriayeva, Honorary President of the NGO ‘Centre for Regional Risk Analysis’, Doctor of Philosophy, Honoured Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, stressed that the Centre initiated the creation of the ‘MEP Discussion Club’ in early 2024 as a platform for extra-parliamentary communication between representatives of Ukrainian civil society and current and former members of the European Parliament who understand the importance of supporting Ukraine in its fight against unprovoked aggression by Russia for the future of Ukraine. The idea of its functioning is to organise regular informal meetings with MEPs in Uzhhorod to discuss key issues of Ukraine's European integration and ways to solve them, develop ideas to ensure a safe and peaceful existence for future generations, and prevent wars and other forms of aggression on the European continent. At the same time, the participants of the discussion club will also focus on deepening truly effective and mutually beneficial relations between Ukraine and its first-order neighbours, primarily the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Romania, Poland, etc. The geographical location of Transcarpathia leaves it no choice but to become a bridge between Ukraine and our neighbours on the path to unification with the entire European family. ‘In the future, we would like to see even more friends of Ukraine at this table to strengthen our partnership not only at the political level, but also at the level of civil society, whose fundamental values are freedom and justice. It is these values that the Ukrainian people are now defending on the battlefield in their sacred and bloody struggle against Russian aggressors,’ said Mitryayeva.
The participants of the discussion club discussed with its guests the current challenges in European politics after this year's European Parliament elections, in particular: strengthening of the positions of Eurosceptic parties in the new European Parliament and the possible impact of this process on solidarity and cohesion in Europe; opportunities to accelerate Ukraine's European integration, its support in the fight against Russian aggression and Ukraine's expectations from the new EP; Russian influence on European politicians as a factor of discrediting the European Parliament.
Answering the experts' questions, Slovak politician Ivan Štefanec stressed that the recent European Parliament elections showed a gradual radicalisation of European sentiment. The main reasons for this phenomenon are Russia's war against Ukraine, migration policy and social issues. However, the influence of the continent's most powerful political force, the European People's Party, has also increased, with its increased representation in the European Parliament, which demonstrates the priority of the intellectual electorate over populist supporters. The EPP strongly supports Ukraine, which today, at the cost of incredible efforts, is defending not only its own freedom and territorial integrity, but also the entire European democracy.
His colleague Vladimir Bilcik stressed that the European Parliament understands that today one country and one people are fighting not only for their own state, freedom and independence, but also for the security of the whole of Europe. These are Ukrainians. Through its military prowess, Ukraine has changed the debate within the European Union about its enlargement and security. The EU must expand and Ukraine must take its rightful place in it.
The discussion of the stated issues was attended by the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Doctor of Political Science Yuriy Ostapets, the Dean of the Faculty of History and International Relations, Candidate of Historical Sciences Vitaliy Andreiko and his deputy, Candidate of Political Science Mykhailo Shelemba, the Director of the Centre for Regional Risks, Candidate of Political Science Anatoliy Holovka, the Director of the Information and Publishing Centre of UzhNU, Honoured Journalist of Ukraine Vasyl Ilnytsky, Doctor of Historical Sciences Serhiy Fedaka, the First Secretary of the Mission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in Uzhhorod Svyatoslav Chukhrai, analyst of the Institute of Political Science and International Relations of the University of Kyiv.
During the discussion, a number of interesting ideas were raised, including the need to take full advantage of the next presidency of the European Parliament of Poland, which is friendly to us, to successfully advance Ukraine's membership in the EU.
