The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy and the Vice-President of the German Bundestag Wolfgang Kubicki discussed intensification of the mutual inter-parliamentary interaction
The German Bundestag Vice-President is in Ukraine with his week-long visit.
The Chairman of the Parliament of Ukraine stressed that he paid great attention to inter-parliamentary contacts and communications: "Many German delegations visited Ukraine, which allows Ukraine to better understand German politicians and German citizens". He also highly appreciated starting the work of the German-Ukrainian friendship parliamentary group. "Closer contacts between the groups and factions give a better dialogue," said the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
A.Parubiy thanked the interlocutor for the support of Ukraine, "especially in this difficult period that Ukraine is experiencing - during the period of the Russian aggression". The main cause of the aggression was said to be desire of the Ukrainian people to pursue the path of European integration. "Russia is gasping for undermining our sovereign choice, which was vindicated at the Maidan, and wants to return an overall influence over Ukraine as before. To my deep conviction, this is not only an aggression against Ukraine but also against the entire free world, since Russia has thrown into question the whole system of world security that was formed after the Second World War," said the Parliament’s Speaker, adding that Russia has been waging aggressive actions by all means, both militarily and informationally.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada called corruption to be a significant issue for Ukraine. According to him, a tremendous amount of efforts was aimed at creating a powerful structure to this end. He recalled the creation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), as well as the introduction of the world’s most open electronic declaration system and the adoption of a decision on the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court, formation of which seems to be feasible by the year’s end.
A.Parubiy informed that for over one thousand days Ukraine has not purchased gas in Russia, which became a pivotal factor in the country's energy independence and has made the most sensitive impact upon corruption’s embrace.
He also invoked privatization of state-owned enterprises as one of the ways of fighting corruption, and inevitability of punishment for venal practices.
Speaking about the security situation, the Speaker observed that Russia's aggressive actions continue and the key clauses of the mutual agreements are not being fulfilled by the Russian Federation. According to him, Putin must accomplish the first point – an all-out ceasefire - and release the hostages who are kept in captivity. In this context, he thanked for supporting sanctions and Germany’s position on the release of a Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov.
In his opinion, it is also important to inform the world, that there is not a local conflict in Ukraine, that Russia brings danger to the whole free world. He reminded that in Moldova, there are, too, occupation forces, and that it has passed ten years as Russian blitzbuggies entered Georgia’s territories. “Putin’s threat is of global and large-scale nature,” added the politician. And the world’s languid feedback has brought the aggression out into explosion, in his opinion.
A.Parubiy also thanked for inviting Ukrainian youth to study at the Bundestag and, in turn, invited German youth to get acquainted with the Ukrainian Parliament. He reported on the creation of an educational center at the Verkhovna Rada, which could help acquaint young people with the history of parliamentarism in more detail.
In his turn, the Vice-President of the German Bundestag said that closer ties should be established between the parliaments of Ukraine and Germany in order to overcome obstacles between the countries should they arise.
W. Kubicki stressed that Germany considers the situation with the Crimea and the Donbas to be unlawful and would never agree with it. "From the German point of view, stopping killings in the Donbas should be primed for. It is necessary to develop a European ‘road map’ of transformations in the Donbas - to reach a permanent truce, to stop the hostilities, to restore the political situation within Ukraine," stated he with profound promise to make all efforts for arranging discussions on the issue at an inter-parliamentary level. He also wished great success in fighting corruption, because "Ukraine’s future depends on it heavily".