The members of the European People’s Party (EPP) Political Assembly (PA) met today via video-conference where members discussed the ongoing coronavirus situation and adopted two position papers.
As the pandemic continues to impact our lives and livelihoods, members of Political Assembly renewed their support for those working on the frontlines and emphasized the need for solidarity to overcome this crisis. Participants also stressed the need to avoid vaccine nationalism, to ensure a swift deployment of the vaccine and increase the fight against disinformation surrounding coronavirus vaccines. The Political Assembly also expressed its support for Alexei Navalny in his fight to build a democratic and transparent Russia. Members called for his immediate release as well as those who have been detained in the protests against Putin’s regime. EPP stands with the Russian people who are taking to the streets to protest against the corrupt regime. In addition, EPP PA members called on Azerbaijan to accelerate the exchange of prisoners of war, captives and bodies of the dead and demand their immediate release; urged the European Commission to pursue this humanitarian question in the current and future relations with Azerbaijan and called on the European Parliament to urgently discuss the process of exchange of Nagorno Karabakh prisoners of war and captives. The EPP PA supported the need to advance EU legislation to fight child sexual abuse online. This is a fight that must unite us all. Today the EPP Political Assembly adopted the position paper ‘Reinvigorating the Transatlantic Partnership’. The EPP stands firmly, as ever, by our bedrock commitment to the transatlantic partnership between the EU and the US. This partnership is the guardian of our security and the cornerstone of global order; it is the engine of global prosperity and the defender of universal values of democracy, human rights and rule of law. A resolution on ‘The Future of Europe: Lessons to be learned from the Corona crisis’ was also adopted by the members of the EPP PA. EPP is concerned that the impacts of COVID-19 will cause a backlash in the equality of women and men, given the surge of gender based violence, economic contraction, heightened risks of poverty and over-dependence on women’s paid and unpaid care work.
