Give Ukraine F-16s!
A notable group of international politicians, legislators, civic
leaders, academics and others signed open letter to President Biden insisting
that Ukraine be given needed F-16 fighter jets to help with its efforts to
defeat russian invaders.
The letter states:
Mr. President,
First and foremost, we would like to thank you,
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and the
broad bipartisan coalition in Congress for your unwavering support for Ukraine
and for the leadership that the United States has once again taken in defense
of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter. Like you, we
believe that, as General Christopher Cavoli put it so well, “Russia cannot come
out of this war with victory, our future simply cannot stand it.”
We have often wished that the assistance provided to
Ukraine had been faster and more extensive. However, we are well aware that you
are in possession of information that we do not have, and that you have had to
work hard to build the Ramstein coalition and to make it more cohesive.
We are writing to you today because we are concerned.
The task that awaits the Ukrainian armed forces in the coming months is
enormous. There is a risk of setbacks and partial successes. And, as General
Mark Milley has repeatedly reminded us, it is always a bad idea to
underestimate the military capabilities of the Russian Federation. In other
words, there is no guarantee that the war will not continue beyond 2023.
As you know, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief
of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and many Ukrainian military and political
leaders believe that the supply of Western aircraft is crucial for a quick end
to the war. Moreover, as Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, and
James Cleverly, the British Foreign Secretary, have stated, the only real
guarantee of Ukraine’s security in the medium and long term is its membership
of the Atlantic Organization, even if this is only possible at the end of the
war. We have no doubt that a broad consensus is forming on this point. We
believe that the states that blocked this process in 2008 at the NATO Summit in
Bucharest, and thus bear a grave responsibility for the war in progress, will
be careful not to hinder it again.
We are aware that mastering the use of modern Western
aircraft requires extensive pilot training and complex logistics. But we also
know that the Ukrainian soldiers, who are highly motivated, have demonstrated a
remarkable capacity to learn.
As leader of the Ramstein coalition, and as president
of the country that produces the aircraft that the Ukrainian military
authorities want most – the F-16 – your approval is essential.
In six months’ time the Ramstein coalition must be in
a position to adjudicate – in the light of the prevailing military and
political situation – on the supply of these F-16s by your country and by those
European countries that have them. It therefore seems essential to us that a
decision be taken without delay to train around one hundred Ukrainian pilots;
to assemble the logistical chain involved in the supply of a hundred or so
aircraft; to establish the number of aircraft that each NATO member country
could effectively supply in the fall of 2023; and to prepare those aircraft.
We thank you for doing everything in your power to
achieve these objectives in the near future and assure you, Mr. President, of
our highest consideration,
First signatories
Annely Akkermann, member of
Parliament, former Minister of Finance, Estonia
Andrus Ansip, member of the
European Parliament, former Prime Minister of Estonia
Gert-Johannes Hagemann, Major General
(ret.), German Army, Berlin, Germany
Willy Herteleer, Admiral (ret.), ex
Belgian Chief of Defense
Anton Hofreiter, Chairman of the
Committee on European Union Affairs of the Bundestag, Germany
Rasa Jukneviciené, Vice-President of
the European Parliament, former Defense Minister, Lithuania
Roderich Kiesewetter, member of the
Bundestag, representative of Foreign Affairs for the CDU/CSU-caucus, Germany
Andrius Kubilius, member of the
European Parliament, former Prime Minister of Lithuania
Vytautas Landsbergis, former President of
the Republic of Lithuania
Pandeli Majko, former Prime
Minister of Albania
Marcos Perestrello, member of
Parliament, Chair of the Defense Committee, Portugal
Karel Schwarzenberg, former Foreign
Affairs Minister and vice Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Kalev Stoicescu, member of
Parliament, chairman of the National Defense Committee, Estonia
Jarosław Stróżyk, Brigadier General
(ret.), Assistant Professor at the University of Wrocław, Poland
Pekka Toveri, Major General
(ret.), member of Parliament, Finland
&
Michael Aastrup Jensen, member of
Parliament, Denmark
Cengiz Aktar, professor of
Political Science at the University of Athens
Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet
professor of EU Law, HEC Paris, Founder of The Good Lobby
Katarina Ammitzbøll, former member of
Parliament, Denmark
Martin Andler, mathematician,
professor emeritus at the University of Versailles-St-Quentin, France
Antoine Arjakovsky, director of
Research, Collège des Bernardins, France
Olga Artyushkina, senior Lecturer HDR
in Russian Grammar and Linguistics, Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University
Anders Åslund, economist and former
Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Sweden, and a member of the Editorial
Advisory Board of The Ukrainian Quarterly
João Azevedo Castro, member of
Parliament, Portugal
Christine Baron, professor of
Comparative Literature, University of Poitiers, France
Kris Beckers, Honorary Consul of
Ukraine in Belgium
Martine Benoit, professor of History
of Ideas-German studies, University of Lille, France
Gérard Bensussan, philosopher,
professor Emeritus at the University of Strasbourg, France
Florian Bieber, professor of
Southeast European History and Politics, Centre for Southeast European Studies,
University of Graz, Austria
Michał Bilewicz, associate professor
of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland
Pierre Bouchat, assistant
professor of social psychology at the University of Lorraine, France
Alain Bourges, videographer,
writer, retired senior art teacher, Ecole Européenne Supérieure d’Art de
Bretagne, Rennes, France
John Bowis, former member of the
European Parliament, former member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Yordan Bozhilov, director of the
Sofia Security Forum, former Deputy Defense Minister of Bulgaria
Justina Budginaité-Froehly,
political scientist, Germany
Patricia Caillé, lecturer in the
Information and Communication Department, University of Strasbourg, France
Michel Caillouët, former Ambassador of
the European Union, France
Enver Can, founding President
of the Ilham Tohti Initiative, Germany
Marco Cappato, former member of the
European Parliament, Italy
Paulo Casaca, former member of the
Portuguese Parliament, former member of the European Parliament
Leo M. Chalupa, professor, School of
Medicine, George Washington University; Fellow, American Association for the
Advancement of Science”, USA
Peter Cmorej, member of
Parliament, Slovakia
Yves Cohen, historian, director
of studies at EHESS, France
Dominique Colas, professor emeritus
of Political Science, Sciences Po, Paris, France
Dorota Dakowska, professor of
political science at Sciences Po Aix, France
Christophe D’Aloisio, researcher
affiliated to the Research Institute Religions, Spiritualities, Cultures,
Societies (RSCS, UCLouvain), director of the Institute of Orthodox Theology in Brussels,
Belgium
Pierre d’Argent, professor of
International Law, University of Louvain, member of the Institute of
International Law, Belgium
Louis Daubresse, associate researcher
at the Institut de Recherche sur le Cinéma et l’Audiovisuel and the Fondation
Balzan, PhD in film and audiovisual studies, France
Julia David, associate member of
the Institute of Modern and Contemporary History (CNRS/ENS), France
Mark Demesmaeker, senator, chair of
the Committee of Transversal Affairs, Belgium
Sébastien Denis, professor, History
& Film Studies, University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, France
Massimiliano Di Pasquale,
associate researcher at the Gino Germani Foundation, Italy
Boris Dittrich, Senator, Netherlands
Jean-Marc Dreyfus, historian, lecturer
at the University of Manchester, UK
André Dumoulin, honorary lecturer,
University of Liege, Belgium
Olivier Dupuis, former member of the
European Parliament, Belgium
Emmanuel Dupuy, president of the
Institute for Prospective and Security in Europe (IPSE), France
Normunds Dzintars, member of
Parliament, Latvia
Marc Elie, research fellow at
the CNRS, Deputy Director of the Center for Russian, Caucasian and Central
European Studies – Cercec, France
Nino Evgenidze, executive director Economic
Policy Research Center (EPRC), Georgia
Marta Farion,
president, Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation of America, and a member of the
Executive Board of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America
Penelope Faulkner, vice-President of
Quê Me: Action for Democracy in Vietnam, France
Andrej Findor, associate professor
at the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
Claude Forest, lecturer and
researcher in economics and sociology of cinema at the Sorbonne Paris 3
University, France
Céline Gailleurd, lecturer, filmmaker,
University of Paris 8
Natalia Gamalova, professor of Russian
Language and Literature, Department of Slavic Studies, University of Lyon 3,
France
Vitaliano Gemelli, former member of the
European Parliament, Italy
Julie Gerber, doctor of
Comparative Literature, lecturer at the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3,
France
Mridula Ghosh, senior Lecturer of
International Relations, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy; Board
Chair, East European Development Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine
Thorniké Gordadzé, former Minister of
European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Georgia, lecturer at Paris Institute
of Political Studies, Sciences Po, France
Svetlana Gorshenina, historian, art
historian, historiographer and specialist on Central Asia, director of research
at CNRS Eur’Orbem, Université Paris-Sorbonne, France
Nicolas Gosset, defense analyst, research
fellow Russia/Eurasia at the Royal Higher Institute for Defense, Brussels,
Belgium
Iegor Gran, writer, France
Markéta Gregorova, member of the
European Parliament, Czech Republic
Gustav Gressel, senior policy fellow
with the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations,
Germany
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse, professor,
University of Warsaw, head of Department of European Union Policies at the
Institute of European Studies, Editor-in-Chief of the International Analyses
quarterly, Poland
Jarosław Gryz, professor at War
Studies University, Poland
Jeanyves Guérin, professor of French
literature at the Sorbonne nouvelle University, France
Fernando Adolfo Gutiérrez Díaz de Otazu, member of Parliament, Spain
Christophe Hansen, member of the European
Parliament, Luxemburg
Atte Harjanne, member of
Parliament, Finland
Rebecca Harms, former member of the
European Parliament and Co-chair of the Green Parlamentary Group, Germany
Patrick Hassenteufel, professor of
Political Science, Université Paris-Saclay (UVSQ), Sciences Po
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Pavel Havlicek, research fellow at
the Association for International Affairs (AMO), Czech Republic
Oleksandr Havrylenko, professor at the V.
N. Karazin National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Joseph Henrotin, research fellow at
the Institut de Stratégie Comparée, Belgium/France
Richard Herzinger, columnist, Berlin,
Germany
Maryana Hnyp, professor of Social
Ethics, Ateneo de Manila University; president of the
European Network on Religion and Belief, Belgium
Marie Holzman, sinologist,
president of Solidarité Chine
Ulrich Huygevelde, coordinator of the
Center Géopolis, Belgium
Mārcis Jencītis, member of
Parliament, Latvia
Mario Kadastik, member of
Parliament, Estonia
Christian Kaunert, professor of International
Security Policy, Dublin City University and University of South Wales
André Klarsfeld, deputy chair of the
NPO “Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la nôtre !”, retired university
professor, France
Jurģis Klotiņš, member of
Parliament, Latvia
Miro Kollár, member of
Parliament, Slovakia
Gašper Koprivsek, founder and director
of Elysium Public Affairs, Slovenia
Philip Krämer, member of the
Bundestag, Germany
Péter Krekó, senior lecturer and
director of the Political Capital Institute, Political Psychology, Eötvös
Loránd University, Hungary
Eerik-Niiles Kross, member of
Parliament, former Director of Intelligence, Estonia
Yauheni Kryzhanouski, researcher,
University of Strasbourg, associate professor at European Humanities
University, Vilnius
Robert Kwiatkowski, member of
Parliament, Poland
Per Larsen, member of
Parliament, Denmark
Gérard Lauton, emeritus assistant
professor, member of the NPO “Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la
nôtre !”, France
Diogo Leão, member of
Parliament, Portugal
Aurélie Ledoux, lecturer, film
studies, University of Paris Nanterre, France
Mathieu Lericq, Lecturer, Film
studies, University Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, France
Ophir Levy, associate professor,
Film Studies, Université Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, France
Šarūnas Liekis, professor of
Politics and dean of the Faculty of Politics and Diplomacy at Vytautas Magnus
University, Lithuania
Jarno Limnell, member of
Parliament, Finland
Sylvie Lindeperg, professor at the
University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and emeritus member of the Institut
Universitaire de France
Jonathan Littell, writer, Goncourt
Prize, France
Ramon Loik, security politics
analyst, Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, former adviser to the
Estonian Minister of Defense
Raimundas Lopata, member of
Parliament, director of the Institute of International Relations and Political
Science at Vilnius University, Lithuania
Mihhail Lotman, former member of
Parliament, professor emeritus at the Tallinn University, professor at the
University of Tartu, Estonia
Lubomyr Luciuk, professor of
Political Science and Economics, Royal Military College of Canada
Jaak Madison, member of the
European Parliament, Estonia
Paul Robert Magocsi, permanent fellow,
Royal Society of Canada—Academy of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Damien Marguet, associate professor,
co-Head of Film Studies Department, Université Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis,
France
Jean Mariani, professor emeritus,
Neurosciences and Gerosciences, Faculty of Medicine Sorbonne University, France
Alain Maskens, physician,
oncologist, founder and former medical coordinator of the European Organization
for Cooperation in Cancer Prevention Studies (ECP), Belgium
Marie-Claude Maurel, director of Studies
at EHESS – École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Centre d’études russe,
caucasien et centre-européen, France
Frédéric Mauro, lawyer at the
Brussels bar, associate researcher at the Institute for International and
Strategic Relations (IRIS), Paris, France
Rachel Mazuy, Associate researcher
at the Institut d’Histoire du Temps Présent, lecturer at Sciences Po Paris,
France
Alvydas Medalinskas, political analyst,
Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius, former chairman of the Foreign Affairs
Committee of the Lithuanian Parliament
Alexandre Melnik, professor at ICN Business
School, expert and consultant in geopolitics, France
Nona Mikhelidze, senior fellow at the
Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) in Rome, Italy
Emmanuel Morucci, doctor in Sociology,
president of CECI (Cercle Europe Citoyennetés et identités), France
Alexander Motyl, professor of
political science, Rutgers University-Newark, United States
Boris Najman, associate professor
and researcher in Economics at University Paris East Créteil
Laure Neumayer, political scientist,
lecturer at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and senior researcher
at the European Centre for Sociology and Political Science in Paris, France
Olevs Nikers, president of the
Baltic Security Foundation, Latvia
Alexis Nuselovici, professor of General
and Comparative Literature at the University of Aix-Marseille, France
Lydia Obolensky, professor of Russian
Language and Literature, Belgium
Ong Thong Hoeung, writer, survivor of
the Khmer Rouge re-education camps, Belgium
Peter Osuský, vice-chairman of the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the Slovakian Parliament
Doris Pack, president of EPP
Women, president of
the Robert Schuman Institute, former member of the European Parliament and the Bundestag, Germany
Carmelo Palma, journalist, Director
of Strade-on-line, Italy
Franck Petiteville, professor of
Political Science, Grenoble Institute of Political Studies, France
Jan Pieklo, Polish ambassador to
Ukraine (2016-2019)
Nicoletta Pirozzi, head of EU Programme
and Institutional Relations Manager at Istituto Affari Internazionali, Italy
Andrzej Podraza, professor, head of
the Chair of International Relations and Security, Catholic University of
Lublin, Poland; visiting fellow, University of Notre Dame, USA
Henn Põlluaas, member of
Parliament, Estonia
Bohdan Prots, associate professor,
Danube-Carpathian Programme and State Museum of Natural History, National
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine
Jean-Paul Pylypczuk, director of the
publication “La parole ukrainienne”, France
Eva Quistorp, theologian, writer,
former member of the European Parliament, Berlin, Germany
Pierre Raiman, secretary of the NPO
“Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la nôtre !”, France
Sylvie Rollet, emeritus professor,
chairwoman of the NPO “Pour l’Ukraine, pour leur liberté et la nôtre !”
Bronis Ropé, member of the
European Parliament, Lithuania
Marie-Claude San Juan, writer and blogger,
France
Andrei Sannikov, chairman of the
European Belarus Foundation. Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus (1995-1996),
presidential candidate 2010, former Prisoner of Consciousness
Anton Shekhovtsov, director of the Centre
for Democratic Integrity, Austria
Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, member of
Parliament, Netherlands
Ivan Štefanec, member of the
European Parliament, Slovakia
Wally Struys, professor emeritus,
defence economist, Royal Military Academy, Belgium
Raúl Suevos, colonel (ret),
former director of communication at the Eurocorps and former commander of the
multinational HQ Battalion of Eurocorps, Spain
Marcin Święcicki, former Minister of
Foreign Economic Co-operation, former mayor of Warsaw, Poland
Igor Taro, member of
Parliament, Estonia
Ewa M. Thompson, professor of Slavic
Studies Emerita, Rice University, USA
Nathalie Tocci, honorary professor
at the University of Tübingen, director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali,
Italy
Patrizia Tosini, associate professor of
History of Modern Art, Roma Tre University, Italy
Florian Trauner, Jean Monnet chair at
the Institute for European Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB),
visiting professor at the College of Europe, Belgium
Andreas Umland, analyst at the Stockholm
Centre for Eastern European Studies
Jacques Vallin, director of research
Emeritus, INED, Condorcet Campus, France
Karl Vanlouwe, member of the
Flemish Parliament, Senator, Belgium
Maïrbek Vatchagaev, Chechen historian
and political analyst of the North Caucasus at the Jamestown Foundation,
co-editor of the journal “Caucasus Survey”
Sarah Whitmore, reader in Politics,
Faculty Research Ethics Officer, School of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes
University, United Kingdom
Kataryna Wolczuk, professor of Political
science, Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES), School of
Government, University of Birmingham, UK
Miroslav Žiak, former member of
Parliament, Slovakia
Christian Rocca, Linkiesta Editorial
Director, Italy
