Written declaration No. 713 | Doc. 15104 | 06 May 2020

75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War

Signatories: Mr Zbigniew RAU, Poland, EC/DA ; Ms Iwona ARENT, Poland, EC/DA ; Mr Włodzimierz BERNACKI, Poland, EC/DA ; Mr Zbigniew GIRZYŃSKI, Poland, EC/DA ; Mr Oleksii GONCHARENKO, Ukraine, EC/DA ; Mr Serhii KALCHENKO, Ukraine, EC/DA ; Mr Oleksandr KOVALCHUK, Ukraine, ALDE ; Ms Yevheniia KRAVCHUK, Ukraine, ALDE ; Mr Tomasz LATOS, Poland, EC/DA ; Ms Inese LĪBIŅA-EGNERE, Latvia, EPP/CD ; Mr Kęstutis MASIULIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Oleksandr MEREZHKO, Ukraine, SOC ; Mr Daniel MILEWSKI, Poland, EC/DA ; Mr Arkadiusz MULARCZYK, Poland, EC/DA ; Ms Linda OZOLA, Latvia, EPP/CD ; Mr Jerzy POLACZEK, Poland, EC/DA ; Mr Urmas REITELMANN, Estonia, EC/DA ; Mr Bogusław SONIK, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Andrzej SZEJNA, Poland, SOC ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Ms Yelyzaveta YASKO, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

We, the undersigned, declare the following:

75 years after the Second World War, we commemorate the enormous sacrifice of European nations in fighting Nazism and fascism. We pay the utmost respect to the victims of the Third Reich.

However, the sacrifice of the Allied Forces did not bring freedom to all. While the heroism of USSR nations freed Central and Eastern Europe from the tyranny of Nazism, the Red Army also imposed totalitarian communist regimes. The Iron Curtain deprived half of Europe of basic freedoms. To this day many cruel acts committed under Stalin’s regime remain without just judgment. We call on the Russian Federation to urgently address this matter.

The Second World War proved that only democracy, the rule of law and human rights can bring lasting peace. Totalitarian regimes and ideologies have no place in Europe. Also the presence of such symbols in public cannot be condoned.

We condemn any attempts to distort the history of the Second World War by omitting or relativising the facts. Victims of the War cannot be held responsible for the outbreak.

We call for perseverance in cultivating the memory of all victims of the Second World War and of those who stood against the totalitarian tyrannies.