The vote was carried with 83 votes for and no votes against. There are 100 Saeima deputies in all. It was a declarative motion expressing the view of the Saeima, and so does not directly impact any legislation.
Nevertheless, the Saeima vote sends a strong signal of support and adds further momentum to current efforts to grant Ukraine an accelerated path to EU membership.
The text on which Thursday's vote was based notes:
"Ukraine, in the face of military aggression by the Russian Federation and a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, is defending its right to determine its own future and is fighting for European values... every opportunity must be taken to help Ukraine survive in the fight to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity."
The Saeima "supports the granting of EU candidate status to Ukraine and Ukraine's future full membership of the EU; considers that it is now particularly important and necessary to express clear support for Ukraine's goal of becoming a member of the EU" and "calls on the EU institutions to work for the granting of EU candidate status to Ukraine as soon as possible."
"Granting Ukraine EU candidate status would be an important signal of EU solidarity, confirming that Ukraine belongs to Europe, for whose values it is currently fighting heroically with all its might," the Saeima said.
