Envoy of the President of Ukraine for Peaceful Settlement of Situation in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts and Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for European Integration Iryna Heraschenko, as well as Verkhovna Rada deputies of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, members of the Committee Mariya Ionova, Mustafa Nayem, Yehor Firsov, Oksana Yurynets, as well as representatives of other parliamentary committees, in particular, Iryna Lutsenko and Yurii Harbuz, have held an offsite meeting in Luhansk oblast.
At the meeting, the people's deputies met with students of Eastern-Ukrainian National University named after Volodymyr Dal in Severodonetsk and students of Luhansk National University named after Taras Shevchenko in Starobelsk; with members of general public, representatives of business of the oblast and visited troopers taking part in anti-terror operation (ATO).
At the meetings with local residents, the parliamentarians discuss prospects of Ukrainian European integration, implementation of the Association Agreement and specific advantages of the European integration for oblast communities and business, possibility of introduction of visa-free regime.
Besides, the people's deputies along with Chairperson of the Luhansk oblast state administration Hennadii Moskal and local activists planted trees in Europark [a small park] near the Severodonetsk Culture House as this was the site where a group of patriots carrying Ukrainian flags gathered against pro-Russian and Russia-financed rally participants and was badly beaten on April 6, 2014.
The head of the Committee Iryna Heraschenko noted it is very important for deputies and politicians to visit Donbas more often as the oblast requires particular attention now. She also noted that European integration today requires more active information policy management by the state.
“European integration is not only the adaptation of the legislation and reforms. This is first of all a change in a way of thinking, a change in attitude to environment around us, to own place in the world. I am surprised that today Severodonetsk citizens came here to plant this Europark here. At that there was neither town mayor nor local deputies. It is important for the people to feel that the authorities are not only the President and the prime minister, but first of all local authorities, who have to speak to the people and take care of them,” she said.
Besides, Verkhovna Rada deputies Iryna Heraschenko, Iryna Lutsenko and Mariya Ionova handed over medical equipment to the Luhansk oblast children clinical hospital in Lysychansk.
Besides, 130 general education schools, 10 local boarding schools, 28th Technical School and 45 kindergartens received books for their libraries.
Following the conclusions of the offsite meeting, members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for European Integration passed a decision to address the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers to offer intensification of information work on explanation of advantages of the Association Agreement in the society. Besides, it was offered to intensify the work on adaptation of the legislation, in particular, in economic and industrial sectors.