President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky may be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. A group of European politicians addressed the Nobel Committee with a corresponding open letter.
According to data published by NOBILITET, they asked the Nobel Committee to extend the nomination procedure for the Nobel Peace Prize until March 31, 2022, in order to allow President Volodymyr Zelensky and the people of Ukraine to be nominated for it. The nomination deadline officially ended on January 31st.
“We are witnessing the courage of the people of Ukraine, who endure this war waged against them by the Russian Federation. Courageous Ukrainians and Ukrainian women are fighting for the preservation of democracy and self-government. From the defiance of Ukraine's democratically elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to a tearful-eyed man saying goodbye to his family to fight for his country, people across Ukraine are resisting the forces of authoritarianism. We believe that now is the time to show the people of Ukraine that the world is on their side,” the letter says.
It is specified that the letter to the Nobel Committee was signed by 36 European politicians from the Netherlands, Britain, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia. The letter is open for joint signing by political leaders around the world until March 30.
Thus, among the signatories were the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, Member of the European Parliament Urmas Paet, former Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip, Director of Political Affairs of the Hague Center for Strategic Studies and former Member of Parliament (VVD) Han ten Brooke, Member of the European Parliament and Vice EV President Esther de Lange, Member of the European Parliament Catherine Langenzipen, former Dutch Defense Ministers Ank Bijleveld and Joris Vorgoev, former Dutch Foreign Ministers Bernard Bot, Bert Coenders and Maxime Verhagen, former Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Prime Minister of Belgium, MP European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt and others.
“Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the courageous people of Ukraine and its president will show that the world wants peace and an end to human rights violations. This recognition is of great importance now, as it is a testament to our common democratic resolve to resist authoritarianism,” said Ank Bijleveld, former Dutch Minister of Defense (2017-2022).
The founder of the popular science initiative Nobilitet, Valeria Loshmanova, added that this is an unprecedented event in the history of the Nobel Prize, since in fact it is a request to violate the nomination procedure.
– But Russia's war against Ukraine is also an unprecedented event that the world has not experienced since World War II. Of course, we do not yet know the answer of the Nobel Committee, I hope it will be positive. The Nobel Peace Prize has always existed on the basis of democratic values, freedom of speech and expression of will. Last year, the Peace Prize was awarded to journalists Dmitry Muradov and Maria Ressa precisely for their fight for freedom of speech. The nomination of Volodymyr Zelensky and the people of Ukraine would be an excellent symbol of the victory of Ukrainians in the age-old struggle for their own freedom and independence,” Loshmanova commented.
Note that NOBILITET is a Ukrainian educational initiative aimed at popularizing scientific and socio-cultural achievements that received the Nobel Prize and are based on the belief in progress and humanism.
