“There must be a before and following speech by the Ukrainian president, we can’t just listen to him kindly, applaud him and not act. We have a share of responsibility”, launched the Belgian deputy on DH Radio this morning, the day following Zelensky spoke in the Belgian hemicycle.
Georges Dallemand pleaded for new sanctions from our country, in areas cited by the Ukrainian President in his speech.
“So far, we have taken sanctions that did not cost us much economically,” said the MP. “It should be remembered that 3/4 of the Russian products traded with Belgium are hydrocarbons, gas and diamonds. I think that it is in these areas that we must act now”.
And to continue by recalling the urgency of the situation. “What is at stake is the end of Russian tyranny over Ukraine, the end of the bloodbath, of the massacre that is taking place. It is also the security of Europe that is at stake, this our freedoms are in danger. If we have to hurt our economy a little to defend this, we have to do it,” he said.
“We first abandoned Ukraine”
Disappointed with the reaction of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who did not follow up on certain demands from Volodymyr Zelensky? The deputy kicks in touch. “Beyond the cheers of yesterday, we must take stock of the fact that we are not able to stop the offensive. Further measures are important”, he simply said.
But he does not forget to recall that our country acted late. “We first abandoned Ukraine, we reacted very late. We had to wait for this conflict to become so bloody to have a reaction”.
Invest in Defense
Asked by Maxime Binet regarding the state of our army, Georges Dallemand did not mince his words. “We are the last of the NATO class, we are not up to the challenges. Our investments in Defense, this represents, if we take away the pensions of the military, 0.8% of our budget, so that we should be at 2%. We have an army in great distress today”.
He recalls for example this emblematic case of the evolution of our Defense, with the contract for around thirty F-35 planes, qualified as “contract of the century”.
“We have divided by three the number of fighter planes we will have in the future, following this contract. It is symbolic of the disinvestment in our armed forces”.
To conclude, the ex-cdH calls for greater military cooperation within Europe. “Our army must be integrated into European defence. Because we had to depend, with the crisis in Ukraine, on the United States. They have 100,000 men deployed on the continent, we have sent 500 to the border with Ukraine. It is time that we ensure the security of the European continent. If Ukraine enters the European Union, we will have to be able to ensure its defence. This is a very concrete challenge for tomorrow”.
