“I am convinced that adoption of the bill on Ukraine’s national security shall largely contribute to further modernization of the Ukrainian Army and will be a great stride on the path to membership in the North Atlantic Alliance,” -- Iryna Herashchenko, the First Vice-Speaker
On May 31, the First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko took part in a high-level discussion roundtable on the theme “New Formats for NATO-EU Cooperation with Ukraine", organized by the parliamentary Committee of Foreign Affairs, the Centre for Global Studies “Strategy XXI” with the support of the NATO Information and Documentation Centre in Ukraine.
She thanked for the support rendered to Ukraine in the implementation of its obligations under the EU Association Agreement and NATO standards. The politician noted that the key task of the current parliamentary session was adoption of the laws of Ukraine "On Supreme Anti-Corruption Court" and "On National Security of Ukraine", which both were important elements for further European integration of Ukraine.
The First Vice-Speaker expressed her confidence that by the end of the session, the Parliament would pass these laws, as well as the law "On Legal Status of Missing Persons" and other important initiatives.
Iryna Herashchenko also informed the debaters about the progress in the work over the draft law on humanitarian demining and mine action, the concept of which was based on the experience of NATO Member States, Croatia, in particular.
She stressed that Ukraine had high hopes upon the NATO summit, which was to take place in the summer. The politician welcomed the agreement of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Hungary to hold additional consultations on the law of Ukraine "On Education".
During her speech, Iryna Herashchenko notified the audience of the results of the TCG’s humanitarian subgroup’s meeting, which had taken place on May 30.
She drew everyone’s attention to the deterioration of the security situation and a heavy use by the other side of the "Grad" rocket launcher system, resulting in the deaths of two children. The politician also spoke about shelling of the OSCE SMM in the Donbas and hampering the work of the mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
I.Herashchenko stressed that the other side had yet again ignored the Ukraine’s initiative to release 23 citizens of Russia convicted of crimes against Ukraine’s territorial integrity against liberation of the Kremlin’s political prisoners.
The politician also said that during the meeting, the Ukrainian TCG’s representatives proposed to approve a joint statement condemning the murder of Ukrainian children, expressing condolences to the victims of the downed Boeing 777 MH17 flight, reproaching for Russia's involvement in this tragedy; to immediately unblock the release of the Kremlin's political prisoners and to give the ICRC mission direct access to illegally detained Ukrainians both in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation. However, according to I. Herashchenko, the other party routinely refused that initiative.
In the course of the event, the participants also discussed the issues related to NATO-EU security-defence cooperation with Ukraine, joint counteraction to hybrid threats, prospects for NATO-Ukraine cooperation, regional security and Ukraine's aspiration for NATO membership, as well as strategic communications, energy and cyber security issues within the NATO-EU-Ukraine triangle.
The event was also attended by:
Hanna Hopko, Head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,
Ostap Yednak, MP,
Andrii Levus, MP,
Vasyl Bodnar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine,
Oleksandr Vinnikov, Head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine,
Barbora Maronkova, Director of the NATO Information and Documentation Centre,
Samuel D.Westerby, Executive Director of the Eastern Partnership Council,
Arturas Petkus, Head of the Strategic Analysis and Research Division of the NATO Energy Security Center of Excellence,
Eloi Divol, Cyber-policy Coordination Division, the European External Action Service,
Mykhailo Honchar, President of the Centre for Global Studies “Strategy XXI” and other experts.