The Ukraine Week has started in Brussels.

On the eve of the High-Level Conference of the European Parliament and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dedicated to capacity building for reforms, the Information Office of the Secretariat asked what Ukrainian parliamentarians are expecting of this forum.

People's deputy of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze noted that the Ukraine Week is "an unprecedented event in the history of Ukrainian parliamentarism," and expressed hope that with such a strong start they will be able to take advantage of the important advices. She noted that the mission of Pat Cox, which has worked on the road map for long, takes into account the recommendations of the parliamentarians. The conference also, she thinks, will ensure active dialogue with European counterparts. However, she noted that the Ukrainian political crisis will influence the course of the discussion. "I am sure that we will hear a lot of honest and sharp questions concerning the ways out of the political crisis in Ukraine, and this, unfortunately, overlaps those topical serious institutional reforms of the parliament, which were envisaged in the program,” she said and added that “at the same time, responding to our European partners on these questions, we put in order our vision of problems and ways of their solving."

According to I. Klympush-Tsyntsadze, "there is an understanding that we will manage to adopt useful experience in various fields from the European Union countries and will use it in solving our political crisis."

One of the important issues on the agenda is changing the Regulations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. "It is on the agenda from the very first day, when the current parliament was elected,” Ivanna said. “Firstly, because the document has been changed many times to adjust to different wordings of the Constitution of Ukraine, and secondly, even when declaring existence or absence of the coalition there appear legal nuances, which allow to interpret this aspect at one's own sweet will." "This is unacceptable and all provisions must to be clearer," she said. “And the European Community for its part is grounded primarily on the procedures. And this is what we lack the most and what we as a State often violate or neglect.” She noted that the Ukrainian society often complains of bureaucracy of Europeans over long decision-making procedures, but if a decision is made, there exist strict mechanisms for its implementation.

"So the question of changing the Regulations is of particular importance today, and we hope that together with colleagues from the Central Scientific Experts Office and the Central Judicial Office we will put them in action. The experts will help to correctly form the standards in accordance to the principles, which we want to put into it. In this regard, I am full of optimism,” the parliamentarian said. “It will ensure more effective work of the parliament, its Secretariat and its offices. There is resistance from the imperfect system, and we waste a lot of time on it." In her opinion, if they manage to accomplish this task during the year, and the European Parliament promises to assist during the year, then "it will be a revolutionary change in the parliament, it will help those people that will work here to more quickly and efficiently make decisions." "This is what we lack today,” she added.

Chairperson of the Committee on Corruption Prevention and Counteraction Yehor Sobolev said that the High-Level Conference is an honorable event for the Ukrainian parliament and Ukraine in general. "We need to show our European partners with colossal experience of parliamentarism, that we also have it budding,” he said and added that “I am very critical about many actions of my colleagues in the Verkhovna Rada, but there is some group of people among them who do not steal and do not allow others to steal, and stopped confusing power and business at all." He believes that "people should found among people’s deputies their representatives, which is essential for the parliament as a representative body of power."

He noted that European partners will help "these sprouts to grow," and that the Verkhovna Rada has adopted laws concerning combating corruption, and including thanks to the support of NGOs. Ye.Sobolev believes that these three days in the European Parliament is a good opportunity to meet the "natural allies." He will also participate in a discussion panel on ethics. According to his words, "the biggest historical problem of our country is that people going into politics and obtaining authority from the people confuse their tasks and business." "That is why we need to limit this, draw some ‘red lines,’ which the parliamentarians cannot cross," Yehor Sobolev said. He also said that journalists also must have their own ethical principles. In particular, they have to bring to the public all important meaningful information, but in the way enabling people to understand it. "A journalist should be a priest when selecting a topic, and a pimp when covering it," Ye.Sobolev said, noting that it is terrible when mass media representatives miss important events - both defeats and victories.

The European Parliament is an open and transparent structure primarily for the citizens, the voters. People's deputy of Ukraine, the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy Viktoria Siumar explained how to improve coverage of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s activity. "This event in Brussels is actually a very serious recognition of Ukraine, its capacities, (European partners) take seriously our intentions to integrate into the EU, and this is really a part of the integration process. We have a chance to take as an example the best practices of the EU. Ukraine is on her path to openness and accountability, and we intend to maximally not only learn, but also to have introduced the best European traditions into practice. The current situation in Ukraine is complicated, and the level of trust in the parliament is very low. One of the reasons for this is the economy of course.

People are expecting for the decisions able to increase their welfare. At the same time, the Ukrainians strive for transparency and accountability: it is extremely important to explain them how the people’s deputies work in the committees and what laws they approve. We have to stage by stage, day by day, show peculiarities of people’s deputy job. In modern world there are a lot of technologies and devices that can guarantee such transparency. I believe that soon we will broadcast all the meetings, all the work of a member of parliament, in order to restore the trust of the Ukrainians in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Let's start with the Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information," V.Siumar assured.

Lilia Hrynevych, the head of the Committee on Education and Science plans to exchange experience with colleagues on improving the situation in the educational sphere. She stressed that it is important to establish partnerships with colleagues from the parliaments of the EU countries, to explain our stand and current situation in Ukraine. "It is obvious that every time when we travel abroad, we get convinced that our partners do not fully understand and know what is happening in Ukraine,” L.Hrynevych said. “We should again inform on Ukraine's position concerning the need for preserving sanctions against Russia and on the situation in the occupied territories."