There is less than a week to go until the European elections. Between Thursday and Sunday, EU citizens will elect a new parliament. You can see what this could look like in Manuel Müller’s seat projection below.
At the moment, things are not looking good for the liberal Renew faction, partly because the campaign of Emmanuel Macron’s Liberals under list leader Valérie Hayer is not getting off the ground. In the polls, Hayer’s list only has just under half the votes that Le Pen’s Rassemblement National can count on.
Perhaps a high-ranking visit from overseas will help the French liberals in the final days before the elections. US President Joe Biden is expected in Normandy for the D-Day celebrations on Thursday, which Chancellor Scholz will also be attending. Biden will then pay an official state visit to France on Saturday.
The D-Day celebrations also herald a month full of major political events. After the European elections comes the G7 summit in Italy from June 13 to 15, followed by the Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland from June 15 to 16. On June 17, the EU heads of government and state will meet for an informal summit before meeting again in the formal format of the European Council on June 27 and 28. Under discussion will be the financing and defense of Ukraine and – very closely related to this – the political future of the EU.
Have a relaxed start to the day,
The issue of economic security has become increasingly important in the last legislative period. Trade defense instruments have been developed and used several times in recent months. In June 2023, the EU Commission published a strategy on economic security and in January of this year a white paper on export controls and one on outbound investments.
However, the debate remains very cautious due to the skepticism of the member states. In the next legislative period, the question arises as to how the vague goal of “de-risking” should be operationalized and how the EU can formulate and implement its own priorities in the face of pressure from the USA.
In the spring of 2024, the EU Commission launched a consultation process on outbound investment screening with a white paper. The impetus for this came from the USA, which wants to prevent Western technology from being lost to China or other potentially competing countries through direct investment. However, neither the member states nor the EU Commission currently have satisfactory data on this topic.
As an EU diplomat confirmed to Table.Briefings, the member states expect a proposal from the EU Commission this summer on how data on European investments in risky third countries should be collected. This data will then be collected for twelve months, which in turn will serve as the basis for a risk analysis and a potential regulatory proposal. Such a proposal will therefore come in the second half of 2025 at the earliest.
According to Tobias Gehrke, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the future of outbound investments and export controls depends heavily on what happens in the US – especially after the elections in November. “The EU will not be a leader on this issue,” he tells Table.Briefings.
In addition to the political pressure from the USA, the risk assessments that the Commission launched in October 2023 will also form an important basis for the EU Commission’s future policy proposals. It defined ten strategically important technology areas for European economic security in a Commission recommendation. For four of these (advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, biotech), it launched a risk analysis to find whether there is a danger of technology leakage or other risks.
However, these risk assessments alone represent a major challenge for the Commission, says Gehrke. The EU Commission has made very few resources available for the issue of economic security, making a thorough and reliable risk assessment difficult. This makes the companies supposed to cooperate with the Commission and provide data skeptical. The member states often have no access to the information either. “The Commission could demand that it be given a better mandate and more resources,” Gehrke continued.
Elvire Fabry, Senior Research Fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris, is also calling for a stronger development of administrative competencies. “The Commission and the member state governments lack engineers with the necessary technical expertise,” she tells Table.Briefings. The EU Commission needs to gain a much more detailed insight into the supply chains – only then can it properly assess the risks and act accordingly.
Both Fabry and Gehrke hope that the next Commission will take a proactive approach to economic security. The current motto is “de-risking,” but what this means in practice is unclear. Fabry calls for a more “proactive” approach and refers to the Japanese approach of “strategic indispensability.” Instead of wanting to control the entire value chain of all important sectors, the focus should be on a few parts of the value chain for the important technologies, in which a technological advantage can be gained. The idea is that by making yourself indispensable in one part of the supply chain, you become less vulnerable to blackmail overall.
However, this type of proactive economic security policy is not just something that governments currently lack the expertise for. Many member states are reluctant to do so because this approach would entail a more active industrial policy. In addition, the distribution of competencies in economic security is unclear. Although the internal market falls within the remit of the EU, national security remains the responsibility of the member states.
Due to this indecisiveness, it remains likely that the EU’s economic security policy will be driven by the US in the medium term. According to Fabry, if Donald Trump becomes president and implements his trade policy ideas, this would put the credibility of EU trade instruments to the test – such as the instrument against economic coercion (Anti-Coercion Instrument), which has never been used before. “The instrument is only credible as a deterrent instrument if it is used,” says Fabry. A Trump stress test could therefore either force the EU into an independent economic security policy or rob it of its credibility.
Under Biden, a continuation of the current, US-oriented interim path would be more likely. In a second Biden presidency, the USA would attempt to develop the G7 into an “economic security bulwark”, says Tobias Gehrke. In this scenario, the majority of the impetus for the further development of economic security will also come from Washington.
This year, the Baltic states are celebrating 20 years of EU membership. The significance of joining the EU and especially NATO is well known in the region. Nevertheless, the euphoria among the population is limited.
Perhaps for this very reason, Einars Repše, who was Prime Minister of Latvia until 2004, dared to make a comparison on the anniversary in May when asked where Latvia would be today without the EU. “In economic terms, I think we would be roughly comparable to Belarus,” Repše told the news portal LSM. He continued: “If we had not joined the European Union, (it) would be possible that we would have a scenario like Ukraine today.”
Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is the dominant topic in the Baltic countries, which feel reminded of their own painful past with their large neighbor by Russia’s aggression. Baltic politicians have made a name for themselves with their unyielding stance towards Russia. Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis have been particularly pointed.
The war in Ukraine has given the Balts and other Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland a whole new level of attention on the international stage – and a stronger sense of self-confidence. However, this new role should not be overestimated, says Aleksandra Palkova, Head of the EU Program at the Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA). Despite persistent warnings from the eastern member states, the attention of Western partners is waning and the focus is once again increasingly on domestic issues.” Nobody is really listening at the moment,” says Palkova. Yet this phase of the war is crucial for Ukraine. It is therefore all the more important for the Balts to warn against war-weariness.
It is therefore no surprise that Ukraine and foreign and security policy issues are playing a central role for almost all relevant Baltic parties ahead of the European elections. The Estonian Reform Party led by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is being particularly specific. Among other things, she wants to introduce Eurobonds worth €100 billion for the EU defense industry, a standardization of the EU defense industry and a defense commissioner – a post for which Kallas herself is under discussion, as well as a future EU foreign affairs commissioner.
In addition to military support for Ukraine, EU accession for the country and the Republic of Moldova is important to the Baltic states. The Lithuanian Christian Democrats have even proclaimed the coming years to be the “Decade of Ukraine.” Lithuania and Latvia will probably endeavor to drive this process forward during their EU Council presidencies in 2027 and 2028.
Some parties, including the Latvian Jaunā Vienotība (JV), which is represented by Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, call for EU funds to secure the EU’s eastern external borders and to support the border regions. Illegal migration, which Russia uses as leverage against the EU, is a concern for many people in the Baltic states.
What all three major governing parties in the Baltic states have in common is that they are going into the European elections with a drop in support. Estonia’s head of government Kallas has gained a lot of international respect. However, the fact that the husband of the fierce opponent of Russia is alleged to be involved in business with Russia has met with considerable criticism in Estonia – as has her handling of the accusations, which many describe as arrogant. According to a recent poll by the Norstat Institute, the Christian Democratic Fatherland Party (Isamaa) is well ahead of Kallas’ liberal Reform Party (Renew). Isamaa could win two of the seven seats in parliament, while the Social Democrats are roughly on a par with the Reform Party.
The JV in Latvia, which belongs to the EPP at the European level, has also lost voter favor. This benefits the national-conservative National Alliance, which is leading in the polls and could win two of the nine seats. Some people in the country may shy away from the socially liberal policies that JV has been pursuing, which are unusual by Latvian standards, since it formed a coalition with the left-green-oriented Progressives, among others, last year. However, the more important reason is probably the affair surrounding Krišjānis Kariņš, who is accused of having used private flights on numerous occasions during his time as head of government.
Kariņš recently resigned from the post of Foreign Minister, which he had assumed in the new coalition. However, he is high up on his party’s list for the European elections – as number two, directly behind Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. “The party may secretly wish he wasn’t on the ballot,” writes the LSM portal. Kariņš’s weakness is likely to benefit Dombrovskis, who wants to remain Commissioner and also enjoys a high level of approval among the population. His topics: support for Ukraine, competitiveness and security.
In Lithuania, the date of the European elections is somewhat unfavorably framed by the two important national elections. In the presidential elections, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė from the Lithuanian Fatherland Union – Christian Democrats (TS-LKD, part of the EPP) was clearly defeated by incumbent Gitanas Nausėdas. The Lithuanian president has expertise in foreign and security policy, and Nausėdas is also known for his staunch support of Ukraine.
The next defeat for Lithuania’s conservative-liberal governing coalition is looming in the parliamentary elections in mid-October. Polls currently show the Social Democrats in the lead and, according to projections by political scientist Manuel Müller, they could win three of the eleven seats in parliament in the European elections. Observers see a number of reasons for the population’s dissatisfaction with the government. One of these has to do with Foreign Minister and TS-LKD leader Gabrielius Landsbergis. According to an analysis by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Landsbergis is primarily present on the international stage but has lost importance in domestic politics.
Landsbergis is the most obvious candidate from Lithuania for a post at the Commission. However, some consider his rhetoric too shrill at times, which could cloud his prospects for the post of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, for example. When he said in an interview with the Lithuanian news agency ELTA that Russia would attack Europe “maybe in ten years, maybe in five years” if it was not defeated in Ukraine, even President Nausėda warned him to calm down.
Latvian MEP Tatjana Ždanoka, who was a Member of Parliament from 2004, made negative headlines. According to research, she allegedly worked for the Russian secret service FSB for almost 20 years and the Latvian authorities are investigating her. In April, Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced that she would impose sanctions against Ždanoka. Ždanoka will no longer stand as a candidate for the European Parliament.
The fact that Ivanna Volochiy is the lead candidate of the Latvian party Kustība Par! (Movement For!) for the European elections has also been noted beyond Latvia’s borders. Volochiy’s candidacy is special because she does not come from the country she is standing for but from Ukraine. “It’s time for a real Ukrainian voice in the European Parliament,” said the 42-year-old when announcing her candidacy in Riga.
Kustība Par! belongs to the liberal European party family. It was part of the government under former Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš but is currently neither represented in the Latvian parliament nor the European Parliament. The party is now positioning itself with a strong pro-Ukrainian stance (election slogan: “Save Latvia. Free Ukraine. One Europe”), which makes it no exception in Latvia: The country is one of the fiercest critics of Russia’s war of aggression and one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine.
The widespread fear in Latvia is that if Ukraine loses, we will be next, says Volochiy. In conversation, she seems reserved and thoughtful. Sanctions are an important means of curbing further financing of the war. Nevertheless, many companies in Latvia are connected to Russia or Belarus despite the sanctions. Another problem that needs to be solved is the transportation of grain stolen by Russia from Ukraine via Latvia to the EU.
Is the EU committed enough to Ukraine? Contrary to what one might expect, Volochiy does not respond with a passionate plea, for example for more money for arms deliveries. Because she knows both sides.
Twenty years ago, she was one of the students in Kyiv who started the Orange Revolution. The protests were prompted by the desire of the people of Ukraine for free and fair elections. “I still remember exactly how the rector of the university said at the time: ‘We’re not studying today. We have a more important task’.” Later, her path led her to Brussels. From a Ukrainian perspective, she says, one can certainly criticize that the EU needs to do more and that decisions take too long. As a European, however, she understands that 27 member states have a say and that the European processes are complex. “I am very satisfied with the progress that has been made.”
After completing her Master’s degree in European Studies and International Relations in Maastricht, she worked in communications for various EU-related projects, such as the EU-funded Open Neighborhood Regional Communication Programme, which aims to promote understanding of EU policy in the EU’s neighboring countries. Later, she was responsible for the online communication of the EU anti-fraud authority OLAF.
Since the summer of 2022, she has been working in the European Parliament as a Community Manager for the Renew Group. Her tasks also include coordinating the contact group with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s sister party Sluga Narodu (Servants of the People). Renew and Sluga Narodu announced last year that they wanted to work more closely together.
During her work for the parliamentary group, politicians from Kustība Par! became aware of her, Volochiy explains, and suggested that she run for the party. The candidacy was therefore not her idea, as she expressly emphasizes. And something else is important to her: the decision was made democratically, the party members approved it in a vote. She is not a member of the party but feels connected to the liberal principles.
One of Volochiy’s priorities is Ukraine’s accession to the EU, which is in “Latvia’s national interest,” as the first sentence of the party’s manifesto states. For the people of Ukraine, the signal that the country belongs to the EU is important. “There are many people who are dying on the front line with the European flag.” At the same time, most people are aware that accession is a lengthy process. The EU itself must also reform in the course of enlargement. Ivanna Volotschiy mentions the budget and agricultural policy, for example, and also advocates an end to the unanimity principle.
Other pressing issues for Latvia include Rail Baltica, the rail link that will connect the Baltic states, Poland and Finland to the Central European rail network. The country is also concerned about the problem of illegal migration – more support from the EU is needed to protect Latvia’s borders.
Ivanna Volochiy comes from Ivano-Frankivsk, a city in the west of Ukraine. She lives in Brussels with her daughter and her husband, who is German. She says: “I belong in Europe.” Sarah Schaefer
There is less than a week to go until the European elections. Between Thursday and Sunday, EU citizens will elect a new parliament. You can see what this could look like in Manuel Müller’s seat projection below.
At the moment, things are not looking good for the liberal Renew faction, partly because the campaign of Emmanuel Macron’s Liberals under list leader Valérie Hayer is not getting off the ground. In the polls, Hayer’s list only has just under half the votes that Le Pen’s Rassemblement National can count on.
Perhaps a high-ranking visit from overseas will help the French liberals in the final days before the elections. US President Joe Biden is expected in Normandy for the D-Day celebrations on Thursday, which Chancellor Scholz will also be attending. Biden will then pay an official state visit to France on Saturday.
The D-Day celebrations also herald a month full of major political events. After the European elections comes the G7 summit in Italy from June 13 to 15, followed by the Ukraine peace conference in Switzerland from June 15 to 16. On June 17, the EU heads of government and state will meet for an informal summit before meeting again in the formal format of the European Council on June 27 and 28. Under discussion will be the financing and defense of Ukraine and – very closely related to this – the political future of the EU.
Have a relaxed start to the day,
The issue of economic security has become increasingly important in the last legislative period. Trade defense instruments have been developed and used several times in recent months. In June 2023, the EU Commission published a strategy on economic security and in January of this year a white paper on export controls and one on outbound investments.
However, the debate remains very cautious due to the skepticism of the member states. In the next legislative period, the question arises as to how the vague goal of “de-risking” should be operationalized and how the EU can formulate and implement its own priorities in the face of pressure from the USA.
In the spring of 2024, the EU Commission launched a consultation process on outbound investment screening with a white paper. The impetus for this came from the USA, which wants to prevent Western technology from being lost to China or other potentially competing countries through direct investment. However, neither the member states nor the EU Commission currently have satisfactory data on this topic.
As an EU diplomat confirmed to Table.Briefings, the member states expect a proposal from the EU Commission this summer on how data on European investments in risky third countries should be collected. This data will then be collected for twelve months, which in turn will serve as the basis for a risk analysis and a potential regulatory proposal. Such a proposal will therefore come in the second half of 2025 at the earliest.
According to Tobias Gehrke, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), the future of outbound investments and export controls depends heavily on what happens in the US – especially after the elections in November. “The EU will not be a leader on this issue,” he tells Table.Briefings.
In addition to the political pressure from the USA, the risk assessments that the Commission launched in October 2023 will also form an important basis for the EU Commission’s future policy proposals. It defined ten strategically important technology areas for European economic security in a Commission recommendation. For four of these (advanced semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, biotech), it launched a risk analysis to find whether there is a danger of technology leakage or other risks.
However, these risk assessments alone represent a major challenge for the Commission, says Gehrke. The EU Commission has made very few resources available for the issue of economic security, making a thorough and reliable risk assessment difficult. This makes the companies supposed to cooperate with the Commission and provide data skeptical. The member states often have no access to the information either. “The Commission could demand that it be given a better mandate and more resources,” Gehrke continued.
Elvire Fabry, Senior Research Fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris, is also calling for a stronger development of administrative competencies. “The Commission and the member state governments lack engineers with the necessary technical expertise,” she tells Table.Briefings. The EU Commission needs to gain a much more detailed insight into the supply chains – only then can it properly assess the risks and act accordingly.
Both Fabry and Gehrke hope that the next Commission will take a proactive approach to economic security. The current motto is “de-risking,” but what this means in practice is unclear. Fabry calls for a more “proactive” approach and refers to the Japanese approach of “strategic indispensability.” Instead of wanting to control the entire value chain of all important sectors, the focus should be on a few parts of the value chain for the important technologies, in which a technological advantage can be gained. The idea is that by making yourself indispensable in one part of the supply chain, you become less vulnerable to blackmail overall.
However, this type of proactive economic security policy is not just something that governments currently lack the expertise for. Many member states are reluctant to do so because this approach would entail a more active industrial policy. In addition, the distribution of competencies in economic security is unclear. Although the internal market falls within the remit of the EU, national security remains the responsibility of the member states.
Due to this indecisiveness, it remains likely that the EU’s economic security policy will be driven by the US in the medium term. According to Fabry, if Donald Trump becomes president and implements his trade policy ideas, this would put the credibility of EU trade instruments to the test – such as the instrument against economic coercion (Anti-Coercion Instrument), which has never been used before. “The instrument is only credible as a deterrent instrument if it is used,” says Fabry. A Trump stress test could therefore either force the EU into an independent economic security policy or rob it of its credibility.
Under Biden, a continuation of the current, US-oriented interim path would be more likely. In a second Biden presidency, the USA would attempt to develop the G7 into an “economic security bulwark”, says Tobias Gehrke. In this scenario, the majority of the impetus for the further development of economic security will also come from Washington.
This year, the Baltic states are celebrating 20 years of EU membership. The significance of joining the EU and especially NATO is well known in the region. Nevertheless, the euphoria among the population is limited.
Perhaps for this very reason, Einars Repše, who was Prime Minister of Latvia until 2004, dared to make a comparison on the anniversary in May when asked where Latvia would be today without the EU. “In economic terms, I think we would be roughly comparable to Belarus,” Repše told the news portal LSM. He continued: “If we had not joined the European Union, (it) would be possible that we would have a scenario like Ukraine today.”
Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is the dominant topic in the Baltic countries, which feel reminded of their own painful past with their large neighbor by Russia’s aggression. Baltic politicians have made a name for themselves with their unyielding stance towards Russia. Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis have been particularly pointed.
The war in Ukraine has given the Balts and other Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland a whole new level of attention on the international stage – and a stronger sense of self-confidence. However, this new role should not be overestimated, says Aleksandra Palkova, Head of the EU Program at the Latvian Institute of International Affairs (LIIA). Despite persistent warnings from the eastern member states, the attention of Western partners is waning and the focus is once again increasingly on domestic issues.” Nobody is really listening at the moment,” says Palkova. Yet this phase of the war is crucial for Ukraine. It is therefore all the more important for the Balts to warn against war-weariness.
It is therefore no surprise that Ukraine and foreign and security policy issues are playing a central role for almost all relevant Baltic parties ahead of the European elections. The Estonian Reform Party led by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is being particularly specific. Among other things, she wants to introduce Eurobonds worth €100 billion for the EU defense industry, a standardization of the EU defense industry and a defense commissioner – a post for which Kallas herself is under discussion, as well as a future EU foreign affairs commissioner.
In addition to military support for Ukraine, EU accession for the country and the Republic of Moldova is important to the Baltic states. The Lithuanian Christian Democrats have even proclaimed the coming years to be the “Decade of Ukraine.” Lithuania and Latvia will probably endeavor to drive this process forward during their EU Council presidencies in 2027 and 2028.
Some parties, including the Latvian Jaunā Vienotība (JV), which is represented by Prime Minister Evika Siliņa, call for EU funds to secure the EU’s eastern external borders and to support the border regions. Illegal migration, which Russia uses as leverage against the EU, is a concern for many people in the Baltic states.
What all three major governing parties in the Baltic states have in common is that they are going into the European elections with a drop in support. Estonia’s head of government Kallas has gained a lot of international respect. However, the fact that the husband of the fierce opponent of Russia is alleged to be involved in business with Russia has met with considerable criticism in Estonia – as has her handling of the accusations, which many describe as arrogant. According to a recent poll by the Norstat Institute, the Christian Democratic Fatherland Party (Isamaa) is well ahead of Kallas’ liberal Reform Party (Renew). Isamaa could win two of the seven seats in parliament, while the Social Democrats are roughly on a par with the Reform Party.
The JV in Latvia, which belongs to the EPP at the European level, has also lost voter favor. This benefits the national-conservative National Alliance, which is leading in the polls and could win two of the nine seats. Some people in the country may shy away from the socially liberal policies that JV has been pursuing, which are unusual by Latvian standards, since it formed a coalition with the left-green-oriented Progressives, among others, last year. However, the more important reason is probably the affair surrounding Krišjānis Kariņš, who is accused of having used private flights on numerous occasions during his time as head of government.
Kariņš recently resigned from the post of Foreign Minister, which he had assumed in the new coalition. However, he is high up on his party’s list for the European elections – as number two, directly behind Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. “The party may secretly wish he wasn’t on the ballot,” writes the LSM portal. Kariņš’s weakness is likely to benefit Dombrovskis, who wants to remain Commissioner and also enjoys a high level of approval among the population. His topics: support for Ukraine, competitiveness and security.
In Lithuania, the date of the European elections is somewhat unfavorably framed by the two important national elections. In the presidential elections, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė from the Lithuanian Fatherland Union – Christian Democrats (TS-LKD, part of the EPP) was clearly defeated by incumbent Gitanas Nausėdas. The Lithuanian president has expertise in foreign and security policy, and Nausėdas is also known for his staunch support of Ukraine.
The next defeat for Lithuania’s conservative-liberal governing coalition is looming in the parliamentary elections in mid-October. Polls currently show the Social Democrats in the lead and, according to projections by political scientist Manuel Müller, they could win three of the eleven seats in parliament in the European elections. Observers see a number of reasons for the population’s dissatisfaction with the government. One of these has to do with Foreign Minister and TS-LKD leader Gabrielius Landsbergis. According to an analysis by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Landsbergis is primarily present on the international stage but has lost importance in domestic politics.
Landsbergis is the most obvious candidate from Lithuania for a post at the Commission. However, some consider his rhetoric too shrill at times, which could cloud his prospects for the post of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, for example. When he said in an interview with the Lithuanian news agency ELTA that Russia would attack Europe “maybe in ten years, maybe in five years” if it was not defeated in Ukraine, even President Nausėda warned him to calm down.
Latvian MEP Tatjana Ždanoka, who was a Member of Parliament from 2004, made negative headlines. According to research, she allegedly worked for the Russian secret service FSB for almost 20 years and the Latvian authorities are investigating her. In April, Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced that she would impose sanctions against Ždanoka. Ždanoka will no longer stand as a candidate for the European Parliament.
The fact that Ivanna Volochiy is the lead candidate of the Latvian party Kustība Par! (Movement For!) for the European elections has also been noted beyond Latvia’s borders. Volochiy’s candidacy is special because she does not come from the country she is standing for but from Ukraine. “It’s time for a real Ukrainian voice in the European Parliament,” said the 42-year-old when announcing her candidacy in Riga.
Kustība Par! belongs to the liberal European party family. It was part of the government under former Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš but is currently neither represented in the Latvian parliament nor the European Parliament. The party is now positioning itself with a strong pro-Ukrainian stance (election slogan: “Save Latvia. Free Ukraine. One Europe”), which makes it no exception in Latvia: The country is one of the fiercest critics of Russia’s war of aggression and one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine.
The widespread fear in Latvia is that if Ukraine loses, we will be next, says Volochiy. In conversation, she seems reserved and thoughtful. Sanctions are an important means of curbing further financing of the war. Nevertheless, many companies in Latvia are connected to Russia or Belarus despite the sanctions. Another problem that needs to be solved is the transportation of grain stolen by Russia from Ukraine via Latvia to the EU.
Is the EU committed enough to Ukraine? Contrary to what one might expect, Volochiy does not respond with a passionate plea, for example for more money for arms deliveries. Because she knows both sides.
Twenty years ago, she was one of the students in Kyiv who started the Orange Revolution. The protests were prompted by the desire of the people of Ukraine for free and fair elections. “I still remember exactly how the rector of the university said at the time: ‘We’re not studying today. We have a more important task’.” Later, her path led her to Brussels. From a Ukrainian perspective, she says, one can certainly criticize that the EU needs to do more and that decisions take too long. As a European, however, she understands that 27 member states have a say and that the European processes are complex. “I am very satisfied with the progress that has been made.”
After completing her Master’s degree in European Studies and International Relations in Maastricht, she worked in communications for various EU-related projects, such as the EU-funded Open Neighborhood Regional Communication Programme, which aims to promote understanding of EU policy in the EU’s neighboring countries. Later, she was responsible for the online communication of the EU anti-fraud authority OLAF.
Since the summer of 2022, she has been working in the European Parliament as a Community Manager for the Renew Group. Her tasks also include coordinating the contact group with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s sister party Sluga Narodu (Servants of the People). Renew and Sluga Narodu announced last year that they wanted to work more closely together.
During her work for the parliamentary group, politicians from Kustība Par! became aware of her, Volochiy explains, and suggested that she run for the party. The candidacy was therefore not her idea, as she expressly emphasizes. And something else is important to her: the decision was made democratically, the party members approved it in a vote. She is not a member of the party but feels connected to the liberal principles.
One of Volochiy’s priorities is Ukraine’s accession to the EU, which is in “Latvia’s national interest,” as the first sentence of the party’s manifesto states. For the people of Ukraine, the signal that the country belongs to the EU is important. “There are many people who are dying on the front line with the European flag.” At the same time, most people are aware that accession is a lengthy process. The EU itself must also reform in the course of enlargement. Ivanna Volotschiy mentions the budget and agricultural policy, for example, and also advocates an end to the unanimity principle.
Other pressing issues for Latvia include Rail Baltica, the rail link that will connect the Baltic states, Poland and Finland to the Central European rail network. The country is also concerned about the problem of illegal migration – more support from the EU is needed to protect Latvia’s borders.
Ivanna Volochiy comes from Ivano-Frankivsk, a city in the west of Ukraine. She lives in Brussels with her daughter and her husband, who is German. She says: “I belong in Europe.” Sarah Schaefer
