The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Rybak, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule, the Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Ian Tombinski, representatives of the European Parliament, leaders of parliamentary factions, people’s deputies of Ukraine, representatives of diplomatic missions and NGOs took part in the round table discussion.
Members of the round table discussed Ukraine’s readiness for signing the Association Agreement and for the deep and comprehensive Free Trade Zone with the EU. The issue of determining priority tasks of Ukraine’s European integration was also discussed.
“Before the Vilnius Summit begins, the Parliament has to consider an extremely important package of bills. The priority is given to reforming the Prosecutor’s Office and improving electoral legislation. Following the Venice Commission opinions, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will consider these bills as priority ones before the Vilnius Summit. The Parliament is also ready for adopting bills aimed at reforming military and law enforcement departments: militia, security services, and establishment of a state investigation bureau,” stressed Volodymyr Rybak.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada expressed hope that these documents will be adopted in time. “We hope that such legislative progress will be appreciated by the EU and will have a positive impact on signing of the Association Agreement during the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit in November, 2013,” he said.
We should recognize that the Summit in Vilnius will be not the end of Ukraine’s European movement but a true beginning of its integrational rapprochement to the European values and standards. The EU Association is not a membership, but rather an invitation for membership in the European club. Daily practice of what we perceive as “European standards” in our everyday life, in economy, social and humanitarian spheres, in political culture and human communication is not and cannot be the result of signing of the Agreement, whatever comprehensive it be. This is primarily the result of everyday intense and often selfless work of the whole society in order to reform and modernize a state.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada thinks that another important impetus for even greater cooperation with the EU is introduction of visa-free regime. Thanks to active work of the Ukrainian Party, particularly the Parliament, almost all legislative acts necessary for completing the first phase of the Action Plan on Visa Liberalisation have been adopted. We hope that during the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit additional progress regarding the issue of mobility of citizens from the Eastern Partnership countries, who want to visit EU countries, will be reached.
The Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov stressed that the President of Ukraine and the government made everything possible to unite Ukrainian society on the matter of European integration. He also reminded that the aim to integrate into political, economic, legal and humanitarian space of the European Union was an important constituent of election programme of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. “With this programme he won the elections and fulfills his commitments to the society,” noted the Prime Minister. Since the beginning of a new government’s work in spring of 2010 we have made the matter of European integration the norm of law. We adopted as a basis the Law “On the Foundations of Domestic and Foreign Policy” that defined European norms and values of Ukraine’s sovereign state policy.” We have shown that European transformations are necessary for the Ukrainian society and we perform them in favour of the national interests of Ukraine,” stressed Mykola Azarov.
The EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule noted that the free trade regime with the EU, which will come into force once the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is signed, will provide Ukrainian economy with a growth of over 6% annually.
Stefan Fule also noted that transitional provisions that will help Ukrainian manufacturers adapt to the European standards have already been elaborated. “Negotiations on the liberalisation mechanism stipulate protection of the Ukrainian economy, so that transformation was not so rapid,” he said.
The Minister of Justice Olena Lukash informed that yesterday, in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the bill on amendments to the Law “On the Election of People's Deputies of Ukraine” was registered. According to her, it absolutely complies with the content of the text, sent to the Venice Commission and the conclusion regarding it will be received today.
During the discussion leaders of deputies’ faction and NGOs representatives also took the floor.
Co-chairman of the inter-faction union “European Choice” Valentyn Nalyvaichenko stressed that “we have elaborated the formula of European success for Ukraine. This formula lies in efficient and sincere cooperation between legislative and executive powers, society, mass media and the EU Party. If there is cooperation and sincerity, there is a result.”
Following the results of discussion, the inter-faction union “European Choice” has prepared a statement open for discussion. In this statement the round table discussion participants address all the braches of government to “take all the necessary measures regarding fulfillment of Ukraine’s commitments, requirements and recommendations of the EU, adoption and implementation of respective bills in order to ensure signing of the Association Agreement during the Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit on November 28-29, 2013.”