On Monday, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andrii Parubii met with Head of Committee on Foreign Affairs of German Bundestag Norbert Rottgen, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly Elisabeth Guigou, and Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Polish Sejm Grzegorz Schetyna.

Parubii informed his foreign colleagues about the course of reforms in Ukraine, the fight against corruption and implementation of the Minsk agreements.

In particular, the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada noted that taking in consideration current active communication and cooperation with the newly elected Government there is a prospect of rapid and effective implementation of reforms. "We strive for rapid and effective reforms. A detailed plan for different fields has just been presented at the meeting of the National Reforms Council held with the participation of the President of Ukraine," he said. He said that the top-priority is the cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, completion of the judicial reform, reformation of the Ukrainian Parliament in compliance with the recommendations of the Needs Assessment Mission of the European Parliament headed by Pat Cox. "The next two plenary weeks will be dedicated to the implementation of these recommendations," the Chairperson of the Ukrainian Parliament said. He said that the quit of some parliamentary factions from the coalition was rather a political move than an ideological action. Parubii noted that all the deputies feel their responsibility to the voters, to the whole country. Thus, he said, the Ukrainian Parliament managed to adopt the laws on European integration and national security. "I am optimistic. Five political factions have a great potential," he said.

Having thanked the European parliamentarians for their support "these hard times, especially in the issues of liberalization of the visa regime and sanctions against the aggressor — the Russian Federation," the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada said: "It is very important for us to feel that we are not alone. We do hope that the sanctions will be prolonged. We have huge political will to continue the reforms."

Head of Committee on Foreign Affairs of German Bundestag Norbert Rottgen said that despite the fact that all the European countries live from one crisis to another, Europe wants to see Ukraine a successful and safe country. He acknowledged that Ukraine does implement its reforms and noted the importance of the fight against corruption. Mr. Rottgen added that the implementation of reforms in Ukraine would certainly entail prolongation of the EU sanctions against the Russian Federation.

In speaking of the issue of combating corruption, Andrii Parubii said that Ukraine as one of the largest European countries still has the burden of post-totalitarian countries. He said that mere reshuffle of heads at law enforcement bodies would not change the situation in the country. "It will be more accurately and better to oust corruption from different forms of the law enforcement system and create new structures without corruption," he said and gave the example of the establishment of the National Anticorruption Bureau. "That surely takes lots of time, however, we will not make it without it. The old structures [agencies and different bodies] require gradual changes. This path is more complicated, it is much longer, however, it is the only proper way. We have already adopted and implemented a number of important anticorruption laws, in particular, the one touching open registers of officials' property, e-declarations, etc." he said.

The Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada appreciated the work conducted in conditions of serious challenges the country is facing now. At the same time, acknowledging that "there are still lots of corrupted sectors: courts, state-run enterprises controlled by clans," he noted that "Ukraine is a large ship that has been put on the path of reforms and assured that it would never turn away from this new path." "This ship follows only the path of reforms and the fight against corruption. We have passed the point of no return," Parubii noted.

In speaking of the implementation of the Minsk agreements, the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada acknowledged the whole complexity of amending the Constitution of Ukraine. "We must listen to the society. Our guys are being killed not only for Ukraine, but for the whole world currently facing the ruin of the security system," he said. He noted that he was the proponent of peaceful settlement of problems. At the same time, he pointed to the problem of considerable number of migrants currently reaching 1.7 million. "Ukraine is solving these problems by itself," he said.

Verkhovna Rada deputy Hanna Hopko noted that the constitutional amendments are almost unreal in view of the security issues in the east of Ukraine. She offered to discuss holding of elections on the temporarily occupied territories at the Ukrainian Parliament. "We have to clearly understand that no elections will be fair and just unless the security problems are tackled there. Freedoms and security issues must be solved first," she said.