Hello and welcome to this special edition of Euronews
now brought to you from Paris. I'm Anelise Borges.
As the war in Ukraine continues, now in its seventh week,
we are going to look at how Europe has been responding
to this crisis. For that, I'm now joined from Ljubljana
by the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Mr. Janez Janša.
Thank you very much for joining us here on Euronews.
Prime Minister, you were among the first European leaders to travel
to Kyiv to show your support to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
You actually took a great amount of risk taking that train ride
while the battle for Kyiv was still ongoing.
What was your message to Ukraine then and what...
Anelise, thank you for this opportunity.
Yes, I think it has been exactly one month
since I travelled together with Polish and Czech
prime ministers to Kyiv.
We were the first foreign delegation
to go there after the start of the Russian aggression.
Our trip there was a message of hope.
We wanted to tell them that they are not abandoned.
I'm very glad that after our visit
many other colleagues from other EU member states followed.
I'm especially glad that the President of the Commission,
President of the European Parliament,
and High Representative Josep Borrell
also travelled there. That the European diplomats are back
after Slovenia was the first to send our charge d'affair back to Kyiv.
He joined the Polish ambassador, who was the only one there
from the EU member states.
I think that now the feeling in Kyiv is much better,
as far as foreign support goes.
But of course, the situation is still difficult. I think that
despite many efforts being invested in a real support for Ukraine,
humanitarian, financial, military, which is especially important...
I don't think we are doing everything we can.
I think that we still aren't as united as we should be
to make Ukraine much stronger.
Sorry, Prime Minister, that's going to be my next question.
I'm sorry to interrupt. How has Europe fared in helping Ukraine?
Do you think that there's been enough help,
a strong enough help in view of Russia's aggression?
I think that the European
reaction to the Russian aggression was much more united
and much stronger than the Kremlin expected.
But not as strong as it needs to be.
Because at the beginning of this tragedy,
when Russia invaded Ukraine,
even though many didn't believe this would happen...
Some of our friends in Europe
didn't believe that Ukraine would resist,
they thought that the government and the president
will leave the country
and that the Russian takeover will be short, brief, within a week.
I told them that this would not happen,
because if a nation is prepared to defend itself
and if the political leadership is united,
and the Ukrainian leadership is united,
there are no differences between the president, the government
and the opposition parties. They are united and this is key.
Such a nation, especially if it is a nation of almost 40 million,
cannot be defeated despite the might of the invading army.
I think that now, and this is the most important question,
we have to concentrate on military aid to Ukraine,
because otherwise this war will go on,
and this impacts everything. It impacts the way of life in Europe.
Ukrainians are also fighting for us,
the Russian aggression will be stopped
when Ukraine is strong enough to stop it.
You mentioned the visit by Ursula von der Leyen,
the President of the European Commission.
She delivered in a very symbolic moment that questionnaire
to President Volodymyr Zelensky and has repeatedly said
that Ukraine belongs in the EU.
But of course, it is not in her power to approve Ukrainian membership
nor to suggest that Ukraine should be integrated.
This is something that must be agreed upon by all 27 member states.
They have disagreed before on who joins and who doesn't.
What do you think is going to happen next?
Would Ukrainian membership of the EU really change something
in terms of the battlefield?
Well...
I think it's important. It's something
that can change many things,
including the situation on the battlefield.
During the war, the strength of arms is not the most important,
it's the strength in your heart.
In the hearts of the people who are defending their country.
Any hope, any strong signal that they belong to the family helps.
It's true, as you said,
that the European Commission is not a decisive factor.
Because the enlargement is linked to the consensus
of all EU member states.
This is clearly a difficult issue for some member states,
but the vast majority of the EU member states supports
the fast-tracked approach of Ukraine,
but also of Moldova, Georgia, Western Balkan countries,
because we have suddenly realised that we were very weak
when looking for answers to the strategic questions.
Now, it is obvious that if the EU doesn't enlarge,
somebody else will.
This isn't bringing more peace and security to the continent.
When we talk about the disagreements within the EU,
we often talk about the leader of a neighbouring country,
one of your allies, the President of Hungary, Viktor Orban.
How do you see Hungary's persistence throughout the times
to support Russia and their proximity?
Isn't that in detriment of European stability and cohesion?
I don't see that Hungary is supporting the Russian aggression,
they condemn the aggression.
They agreed with all sanctions,
otherwise all those packages wouldn't be possible.
But they have some problems regarding minority issues and other things
with their neighbouring country
and unfortunately this is affecting their attitude.
In my opinion, when a country is attacked,
when it is at war, when people are dying,
we have to abandon other things and concentrate on saving lives.
I don't have a problem with prioritising this issue.
But I think that if we are speaking about the enlargement
and the European perspective
of the countries from the Eastern neighbourhood and the Balkans,
Hungary was always very supportive of this issue.
I know that the Commissioner for the Enlargement is from Hungary.
He is doing a good job.
Very briefly, Prime Minister. You've recently said
that he was going to go as far as possible
when referring to Vladimir Putin.
Is there no stopping Russia's president?
Currently, Ukrainians are trying to stop him.
If this scenario A,
which was in some European countries not only a probability,
but a certainty...
When the aggression started, they thought that Russia
as a military might would take Ukraine within a few days,
maybe two weeks, but not longer.
If this scenario is realised,
then I'm a 100% sure that the next country
to be invaded will be Moldova and then Georgia.
And then maybe the Baltic states, because...
A very bleak perspective there. Prime Minister, I'm very sorry.
We are unfortunately out of time.
I want to thank you for joining us here on Euronews.
Thank you very much for your time. Do stay tuned,
there's much more to come. Stay with us.