The European Parliament believes that the EU Commissioners should put pressure on the EU countries to supply Ukraine with more Patriot anti-missiles as quickly as possible. That is why the vast majority of the European Parliament has postponed the approval of the EU annual accounts until the week of April 24, the very last plenary session of this European Parliament.
MEPs agreed (by 515 votes in favour, 62 and 20 abstentions) to postpone the vote on the discharge of the EU Council of Ministers until the next plenary meeting, pending a decision by Member States to grant Ukraine equipped with missile protection systems.
The annual adoption of the annual accounts is a crucial part of Parliament's role in budgetary surveillance. Non-approval counts as an orange warning; denouncing it as a political censure.
Belgian liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt called for such a decision, citing statements by EU High Representative Josep Borrell. Last week, the 'EU foreign minister' called on the EU member states to provide Ukraine with seven Patriot anti-missile systems out of the hundred that the EU countries have in their possession.
“You have all seen the Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities, hospitals and residential buildings in recent weeks. At the same time, the EU Council is not able to make a decision and send a certain number of anti-missile systems to Ukraine,” said Guy Verhofstadt. He emphasized that there are a hundred Patriot systems in Europe, and that Ukraine wants only seven.
Germany reported that it would search around the world for Patriot systems for Ukraine, together with the Netherlands and the United States. According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the search is not only within NATO countries, but also around the world.
U.S. Patriot air defense systems outside NATO are in use in Israel, Jordan, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan.