Strasbourg (France), 7 May (LaPresse) – ‘The war in Ukraine will eventually stop. And the way the war ends will shape our continent for generations to come. The Ukrainians' future is at stake, but so is ours. A bad agreement could encourage Putin to come back for more. It would be a recipe for more instability and insecurity. Instead, a just and lasting peace could usher in a new era of prosperity for Ukraine and help us build a new security architecture for Europe. A just and lasting peace that guarantees Ukraine's sovereignty, respects its territorial integrity and supports its European aspirations. This is the crossroads we face. And Europe has an enormous amount at stake'. So says the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech during a plenary debate in the European Parliament on EU support for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. ‘So,’ she stressed, ’we must do our best to strengthen Ukraine's position. Because we have all seen how Russia negotiates. It bombs. It intimidates. It buries promises under rubble. Putin wants to force Ukraine to accept the unacceptable. So the task before us is to help Ukraine to stay strong, to defy Putin's intimidation and to engage in peace talks based on its own terms. Today I would like to focus on how we can do this and on three priorities for our action. First, support the defence of Ukraine. Second, complete the phase-out of Russian fossil fuels. And third, accelerate Ukraine's path to membership in our Union'.