General Pekka Toveri, the Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for Ukraine

I have occasionally written about the Finnish General Pekka Toveri (example, another), who was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in the last elections. That’s why it was interesting to notice that he has now become the chair of a the European Parliament's Delegation for Ukraine. 

The delegations of the European Parliament are its official representatives, and they are part of its foreign relations. The task of these delegations is to maintain and develop relations with non-EU countries and international institutions.

After being elected, Toveri informed Finns that "the planning of the delegation's work program has already begun, and I am optimistic that we will achieve important things. The agenda will include, for example, discussions on sanctions and the EU's role in peace negotiations. At some point, the delegation will also begin assessing what needs to be done for Ukraine’s EU membership, but our most important task at the moment is to focus on how the EU can help Ukraine win the war."

This is a good starting point. The Finnish general undoubtedly has much to offer to the Ukrainians as they fight their war, as well as to European decision-makers who are willing to help a pro-European state that has become a target of Russia's aggression.

However, it remains to be seen how interested EU leaders ultimately are in helping Ukraine achieve victory. And whether they can cooperate effectively to ensure the failure of Vladimir Putin's imperialist plans.

One can only hope this will happen because Putin won’t stop at Ukraine if he can interpret the war as a victory. If that were to happen, the next to suffer would likely be another one of Russia’s neighboring states, and the game wouldn’t end until the Western countries finally decided to put a stop to it by presenting a strong enough counterforce to Putin’s army. That’s why it’s better to do this now in Ukraine rather than later.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Will Russia Test NATO's Article Five?
Finland and Western Europe: Effectively at War
The most effective Russian agent in the UK