Group of Euroskeptic, radical MEPs pushes European Parliament to strip Zelensky of honorary award
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A group of 37 right-wing, far-right, and other Euroskeptic members of the European Parliament (MEPs) called on the institution to strip President Volodymyr Zelensky of a recently awarded Order of Merit, in a letter sent to parliament's president, Roberta Metsola, and seen by the Kyiv Independent on June 5.
The letter follows a public outcry in Poland over Zelensky's decision to name a serving Ukrainian military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA).
A World War II-era organization that fought for Ukraine's independence, the UPA is remembered in Poland primarily for its role in the massacres of Polish civilians in the Volyn region — one of the most painful chapters in the Ukrainian-Polish history.
That decision has inflamed Polish politics in particular, with the country's conservative President Karol Nawrocki also seeking to strip Zelensky of Poland's highest state honor, and former Polish president and leader of the country's Solidarity trade union movement Lech Walesa removing his Ukraine flag lapel pin in protest.
"European values based on dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect between nations cannot be reconciled with the glorification of chauvinism, hatred, genocide and ethnic cleansing," the letter reads.
The European Parliament's Order of Merit was granted for the first time in May 2025 to 20 recipients, which included Walesa, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Zelensky.
The award was established "to honor the achievements of individuals who are considered to have made significant contributions to European integration," according to the European Parliament's website.
Of the MEPs who signed the letter, 16 are Polish and include members of the main opposition conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, among them former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, as well as several far-right MEPs.
Outside of Poland, the signatories include pro-Russian and euroskeptic-leaning parliamentarians, including members of the far-right Alternative for Germany, as well as Luxembourg's Fernand Kartheiser, who regularly meets Russian officials and is attending the economic forum in St Petersburg.
Conspicuously absent are any MEPs from the parliament's main center-left and center-right parties.
