A Ukrainian citizen will head the list of candidates of the Latvian political party 'Movement For!' in the European elections on 9 June. If elected, Ivanna Voločija will be the first ever Ukrainian MEP in the European Parliament.
Hailing from Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine, Voločija studied political science in Kyiv and Maastricht and is currently a community manager for the liberal European Parliament group Renew. She has worked in European institutions in Kyiv and Brussels for 17 years.
Her candidature corresponds to her party's determination to achieve Ukrainian accession to the EU and NATO in the interest of reinforcing security on the continent. The centrist liberal party says EU accession must take place in the next 10 years.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday morning, Voločija emphasised the important link between the two countries.
"I personally and all of Ukraine are very grateful to Latvia and its people for all your help to us," she said. "As people in Ukraine say, we don't need to explain anything to our friends in Latvia and the Baltic States, because you understand us without words."
'Movement For!' was founded in 2017 and has not been represented in the Latvian Parliament since 2022, nor does it have any MEPs. One out of the eight Latvian MEPs currently in Parliament is a member of Renew: Ivars Ijabs of liberal party 'Latvia's Development'.
