The idea of introducing multiple citizenship in Ukraine was one of the points of the President Volodymyr Zelenskyi's election program, and over the course of four years it has been developed and finalized after previous attempts to vote for the relevant draft law in 2020. Now the document was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada on a symbolic day, the Day of Unity, and this text is based on the philosophy of uniting Ukrainians.
This was stated by Mariia Mezentseva, MP, Deputy Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Ukraine's Integration with the EU, Head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE.
“The purpose of the draft law is to unite all Ukrainians. Our diaspora in all countries of the world are our friends, our “good agents of change” who, in the difficult times that the Ukrainian state is going through, contribute to military and humanitarian aid. For example, children who are ethnic Ukrainians but were born abroad will also be able to become citizens of Ukraine. Similarly, foreigners who are now defending our country at the front will be able to obtain a Ukrainian passport under the draft law on multiple citizenship,” the MP noted.
According to her, all the problematic aspects of the draft law will be agreed upon in the Verkhovna Rada committees.
“Our European Integration Committee supports the philosophy of multiple citizenship, as many countries around the world practice it. I would like to draw attention to the fact that Ukrainian constitutionalists argue that Article 4 of the Basic Law states that there is a single citizenship of our state. This means that there is no citizenship of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Crimea, etc. Accordingly, multiple citizenship can be developed; in legal practice, these are bipatriots, tripatriots, etc.,” the MP emphasized.
She added that the state cannot forget and reject those people who already exist, and the proposed draft law brings them into the legal field.