26 February 2022
The Russian government has, without provocation, invaded a sovereign democratic nation at the heart of Europe. The Putin regime is, in the words of Martin Kimani, the Kenyan Ambassador to the UN, “stoking the embers of dead empires”. We, the undersigned, Europeans from all over our continent who are members of the European Council on Foreign Relations, stand resolutely in solidarity with the people of Ukraine in their effort to resist this re-colonisation. Their fight is our fight. Their future lies in Europe with us, as Europeans among Europeans. We call on all our governments to #StandWithUkraine by:
- Denouncing Putin’s aggression and exposing his lies: We must expose Putin’s lies and denounce his crimes in every international forum. We need to loudly proclaim that the Putin regime has blatantly violated the most fundamental European norms and laws of international conduct.
- Sanctioning the Putin regime: We must impose the harshest possible sanctions on Putin and all the pillars of his regime. We need to expel all Russian intelligence personnel from all EU countries.
- Supporting the freedom and safety of Ukrainians: We must provide for Ukrainians in their time of need by sending all kinds of aid to all those who can remain in Ukraine and offering refuge to those who cannot. We must also cancel Ukraine’s debt and allow Ukrainians special dispensation to work in the European Union.
- Sharing the burden within Europe: European states must support each other in their efforts to stand with Ukraine. Unity and solidarity are our strengths. No EU state should have to bear the burdens of supporting Ukraine alone.We need to share the costs of sanctions, help each other to develop alternatives to Russian energy, and welcome Ukrainian refugees in every part of Europe.
Signatories
- Douglas Alexander – former Secretary of State for International Development
- Joaquín Almunia – Chair, Centre for European Policy Studies; former Vice-President of the European Commission
- Senem Aydın-Düzgit – Professor of International Relations, Sabanci University; Academic Affairs Coordinator, Istanbul Policy Centre
- Claudia Azevedo – CEO, Sonae
- Thomas Bagger – Director-General for Foreign Affairs, Office of the Federal President of Germany
- Gordon Bajnai – former Prime Minister of Hungary
- Lluís Bassets – Journalist and former Deputy Director, El País
- Carl Bildt – Co-Chair, ECFR; former Prime Minister of Sweden
- Anu Bradford – Henry L. Moses Professor of Law and International Organization & Director, European Legal Studies Center, Columbia Law School
- Sandra Breka – CEO, Robert Bosch Stiftung
- John Bruton – former Prime Minister of Ireland
- Alistair Burt – Pro-Chancellor, Lancaster University; former Minister of State for the Middle East
- Ditmir Bushati – Member of Parliament; former Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania
- Reinhard Bütikofer – Member of the European Parliament
- Isabel Capeloa Gil – Rector, Catholic University of Portugal
- Gunilla Carlsson – former Deputy Director, UNAIDS; former Minister for International Development Cooperation
- Maria Cattaui – Member of the Global Board, OSF; former Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce
- Dita Charanzová – Vice-President, European Parliament
- Céline Charveriat – Executive Director, Institute for European Environment Policy
- Ian Clarkson – Board Member, ECFR; Founder, Celerant Consulting
- Robert Cooper – former Ambassador and Special Adviser, European External Action Service
- Lucinda Creighton – CEO, Vulcan Consulting; former Minister for European Affairs of Ireland
- Srdjan Darmanovic – former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro
- Marta Dassù – Board Member, ECFR; Senior Director for European Affairs, The Aspen Institute
- Julia De Clerck-Sachsse – Senior Non-Resident Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States
- Tibor Dessewffy – President, DEMOS Hungary
- Anna Diamantopoulou – President, DIKTIO – Network for Reform in Greece and Europe
- Nikola Dimitrov – former Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs of North Macedonia
- Klara Dobrev – Member of the European Parliament
- Sorin Ducaru – Director, European Union Satellite Centre; former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges
- Karin Forseke – Non-Executive Director, Greater Than AB
- Lykke Friis – Co-Chair, ECFR; Director, Taenketanken Europa
- Timothy Garton Ash – Professor of European Studies, University of Oxford
- Carlos Gaspar – Member of the Board of Directors, Portuguese Institute of International Relations
- Anthony Giddens – Life Fellow, University of Cambridge
- Arancha González Laya – Dean, Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po Paris; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain
- José Manuel González-Páramo – President, European DataWarehouse
- Teresa Gouveia – Board Member, ECFR; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal
- Heather Grabbe – Director, Open Society European Policy Institute
- Alexander Graf Lambsdorff – Member of the Bundestag; Deputy Chair of the FDP
- Jean-Marie Guéhenno – former President & CEO, International Crisis Group; former UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
- István Gyarmati – President and CEO, International Centre for Democratic Transition
- Fabienne Hara – Secretary General, Paris Peace Forum
- Connie Hedegaard – former European Commissioner for Climate Action
- Anna Herrhausen – Executive Director, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft
- Christoph Heusgen – Chairman of Munich Security Conference; former Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations
- Toomas Hendrik Ilves – former President of Estonia
- Wolfang Ischinger – Ambassador; Chair, Munich Security Conference
- Diana Janse – Senior Fellow, Stockholm Free World Forum
- Jo Johnson – Chair, TES Global; former Minister for Universities and Science
- Zeljko Jovanovic – Director, Roma Initiative Office, Open Society Foundations
- Rasa Juknevičienė – Member of the European Parliament; former Minister of Defence of Lithuania
- Eva Kaili – Vice-President, European Parliament
- Mary Kaldor – Professor, London School of Economics
- Bahadir Kaleagasi – President, Paris Bosphorus Institute
- Sandra Kalniete – Member of the European Parliament; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia
- Lea Kašpar – Executive Director, Global Partners Digital
- Sylvie Kauffmann – Board Member, ECFR; Editorial Director, Le Monde
- Piia-Noora Kauppi – Managing Director, Federation of Finnish Financial Services
- Roderich Kiesewetter – Member of the Bundestag
- Suat Kınıklıoğlu – Senior Fellow, Center for Applied Turkey Studies
- Bassma Kodmani – former Executive Director, Arab Reform Initiative
- Bert Koenders – former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
- Ivan Krastev – Chair of the Board, Centre for Liberal Strategies
- Brigid Laffan – Director, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute
- Sergey Lagodinsky – Member of the European Parliament
- Pascal Lamy – President, Paris Peace Forum; former Director-General, WTO
- Remzi Lani – Director, Albanian Media Institute
- Martina Larkin – Senior Advisor to the Chair and President, World Economic Forum
- Mark Leonard – Director, European Council on Foreign Relations
- Sonia Licht – President, Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence
- Maria Livanos Cattaui – Member of the Global Board, OSF; former Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce
- Javi López – Member of the European Parliament
- Leiv Lunde – Senior Advisor on Asia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden
- José M. de Areilza – Secretary General, Aspen Institute Spain
- Cecilia Malmström – former European Commissioner for Trade
- Katarina Mathernova – Deputy Director General, Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission
- David McAllister – Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee, European Parliament
- David McNair – Executive Director for Global Policy, ONE Campaign
- Anand Menon – Director, UK in a Changing Europe
- Dario Mihelin – Ambassador of Croatia to China
- David Miliband – President and CEO, International Rescue Committee
- Enrique Mora – Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs, Political Director, European External Action Service
- Susan Morgan – Freelance Consultant
- Isabel Mota – President of the Board of Trustees, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
- Matthias Nass – Chief International Correspondent, DIE ZEIT
- Kalypso Nicolaidis – Chair and Professor of International Affairs, School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute
- Natalie Nougayrède – Columnist and leader writer, The Guardian
- Delphine O – Secretary General, UN Women Global Forum, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Christine Ockrent – Journalist and Presenter of Affaires Etrangères, France Culture Radio
- Hanna Ojanen – Research Director, Tampere University
- Andrzej Olechowski – Board Member, ECFR; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland
- Dick Oosting – Chair of the Board, Asylos; former Europe Director, Amnesty International
- Andrés Ortega – Senior Research Fellow, Real Instituto Elcano
- Marc Otte – Senior Associate Fellow, Egmont Institute; Vice-President, European Institute for Peace; former EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process
- Žaneta Ozoliņa – Professor, University of Latvia
- Monika Panayotova – CEO, Inno Advisers; former Deputy Minister for the Bulgarian EU Council Presidency
- Mauro Petriccione – Director-General, Directorate-General for Climate Action, European Commission
- Kauppi Piia-Noora – Managing Director, Federation of Finnish Financial Services
- Kati Piri – Dutch Member of Parliament
- Lilianne Ploumen – Dutch Member of Parliament & Leader of the Labour Party
- Julian Popov – Fellow, European Climate Foundation
- Charles Powell – Director, Real Instituto Elcano
- Vesna Pusić – former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia
- Lia Quartapelle – Italian Member of Parliament
- Kristi Raik – Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, International Centre for Defence and Security
- Rémy Rioux – CEO, Agence Française de Développement
- José María Robles Fraga – Ambassador of Spain to Lithuania
- Alex Romero – Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Constella Intelligence
- Norbert Röttgen – Co-Chair, ECFR; Member of the Bundestag
- Janet Royall – Principal, Somerville College, University of Oxford; former Leader of the House of Lords
- Nicolò Russo Perez – Head, International Affairs Programme, Compagnia di San Paolo
- Daniel Sachs – CEO, Proventus
- Patrycja Sasnal – Head of Research, Polish Institute of International Affairs
- Klaus Scharioth – Dean, Mercator Fellowship on International Affairs
- Caroline Schmutte – Head of European Government Relations, Wellcome Trust
- Daniela Schwarzer – Executive Director for Europe and Eurasia, Open Society Foundations
- Radmila Shekerinska – former Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia
- Maria Sicilia Salvadores – Strategy Director, Enagas S.A.
- Aleksander Smolar – former President of the Board, Stefan Batory Foundation
- Erna Solberg – Member of Parliament; former Prime Minister of Norway
- Alex Soros – Deputy Chair, Open Society Foundations
- George Soros – Founder and Chair, Open Society Foundations
- Svilen Spassov – Businessman and Publisher
- Volker Stanzel – former Ambassador of Germany to China and Japan
- Andris Strazds – Advisor, Bank of Latvia
- Hannes Swoboda – President, International Institute for Peace
- Han ten Broeke – Director of Political Affairs, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies
- Anna Terrón Cusí – Director, International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies
- Helle Thorning-Schmidt – Board Member, Vestas; former Prime Minister of Denmark; former CEO, Save the Children
- Henrik Thune – State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway
- Nathalie Tocci – Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali
- Andreas Treichl – Chair, ERSTE Foundation; President, European Forum Alpbach
- Erkki Tuomioja – Vice-Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland
- Sinan Ulgen – Chair, Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies
- Vygaudas Usackas – former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania
- Justin Vaïsse – Director General, Paris Peace Forum; former Director of Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Tomáš Valášek – Chair, European Affairs Committee, National Council of the Slovak Republic
- Mabel van Oranje – Global Champion, Girls Not Brides – The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage
- Constatijn van Oranje – Special Envoy, StartupDelta; Director for Digital Technology & Macro Strategy, Macro Advisory Partners
- Ivan Vejvoda – Acting Rector & Head of the Europe’s Futures Programme, Institute for Human Sciences
- Romana Vlahutin – Ambassador at Large for Connectivity, European External Action Service
- Johann Wadephul – Member of the Bundestag; Deputy Chair of the CDU/CSU
- Geir Westgaard – Vice President, Political and Public Affairs, Equinor
- Sabine Weyand – Director-General, Directorate-General for Trade, European Commission
- Karolina Wigura – Member of the Board, Kultura Liberalna Foundation
- Andre Wilkens – Director, European Cultural Foundation
- Maciej Witucki – President, Konfederacja Lewiatan
- Karla Wursterova – Ambassador of Slovakia to Italy