Appeal to the European Union for a Peace Pact. * The force of reason against the force of arms

Russia's military invasion of Ukraine is provoking growing political rivalry between opposing world powers that could have catastrophic outcomes. The use of nuclear weapons is no longer excluded. In any case, if the war still lasted months or years, a rift would be created in Europe and in the world similar to that of the darkest years of the Cold War as well as causing enormous costs for the whole Planet. We need only mention the wheat blocked in the port of Odessa.

The European Union can and must stop this dangerous escalation with the tools available and with a forward-looking political initiative. Diplomacy, the supply of defensive armaments to Ukraine, economic sanctions and the partial halting of fossil fuel imports from Russia are not enough.  The embargo on the import of oil and gas, in line with the request of the European Parliament, would deprive Russia of the resources necessary to finance the war and could  facilitate a ceasefire overcoming the present stalemate. The time has come to act with forward-looking policy proposals which take into consideration the post war situation.

We European citizens and citizens of the world call for the EU to ask all the forces deployed in the field to accept a Peace Plan that includes:

1. The renewal of the Atlantic Pact (1949) involving all current NATO member countries plus Russia and other countries that want to be part of it. The Pact, among the peoples of the new Atlantic area, from Vancouver to Vladivostok, must guarantee security and economic cooperation among its members. What was possible in 1975, with the Helsinki Accords, during the Cold War, must again be possible in 2022. Who is preventing the current perpetrators of the ongoing conflict from returning to the spirit of Helsinki? The OSCE and the Council of Europe must be reactivated.
2. An initiative for peace and cooperation from Vancouver to Vladivostok would have a positive effect on international relations in Asia. Peace between Russia, Ukraine and other countries will show the way to a reduction in political tensions also between China, Taiwan, Japan and all other Asian peoples.
3. All UN countries must be called upon to ensure respect for the new Peace Pact in Europe. The UN, in the years of the Cold War, played the crucial role of easing tensions between the superpowers. Today its role becomes even more important not only to ensure peace among peoples, but also to face the existential challenge of climate change. The mad race for the increase of military spending must be stopped: governments must devote more resources to the ecologically sustainable development of the planet until the launch of a Global Green Deal.
4. The signing of the Peace Pact will immediately put an end to military hostilities and economic sanctions.

            War is not an inevitable fate.

* Proposed by Lucio Levi, Guido Montani and Nicola Vallinoto