Oleksandr Korniyenko: Ukraine expects Romania to continue its policy of supporting its European integration intentions and advocating this aspiration among other countries

Informatiion Department
Published on 14 June 2022, at 17:47

During his working visit to Romania, First Deputy Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Kornienko met with the Speaker of the Senate of the Romanian Parliament Florin Citu

First of all, Oleksandr Korniyenko thanked for Romania's tacit but reliable military support.

On the diplomatic front, the main issue today for Ukraine is obtaining the status of a candidate for membership in the European Union. Ukraine expects Romania to "continue the policy of supporting its European integration intentions and advocating this aspiration among other countries."

In addition, Oleksandr Korniyenko asked the Romanian Parliament to adopt a resolution recognizing the crimes committed by russia in Ukraine today as genocide. In this context, he noted, "Ukraine is grateful to Romania for supporting and providing resources to continue the work of the International Criminal Court's investigative team."

The First Vice-Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament particularly focused on the economic war unleashed by russia, where he singled out two main components.

"One war is the blockade of Ukrainian ports, the bloodshed of the Ukrainian economy, and now there is a threat of famine in a number of countries that received our grain," said Oleksandr Korniyenko, adding that sanctions are important to overcome this problem. Sanctions which Romania actively supports, despite some losses, for example, in the energy sector.

He said that Ukraine had in fact entered a full-fledged synchronization regime with the European energy system, which could satisfy Romania's request to import Ukrainian electricity, in particular green electricity.

The First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine also invited Romania to participate in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.

"One of the mechanisms we are considering now is direct cooperation between the territories. While large European projects are being prepared, we can start cooperating at the level of small territories," Oleksandr Korniyenko stressed.

Roksolana Pidlasa, Deputy Chairpersom of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, drew the attention of those present to Romania's support for Ukraine in the humanitarian and transport spheres.

"We are grateful for what the Romanian government is doing to increase the capacity of ports that export Ukrainian grain and food. It is also important to support the Romanian Parliament in creating safe export corridors across the Black Sea," she said.

The Speaker of the Romanian Senate Florin Citu stressed that the Senate was one of the first to support Ukraine in the war with russia, and today is ready to support Ukraine's European integration intentions, but with a "clear plan of steps to be implemented over time".

Regarding sanctions, the Speaker of the Romanian Parliament stressed that Romania's position is clear: "Romania supports sanctions against russia, Romania is against lifting sanctions on russia, as in 2019, when part of the sanctions on Crimea were lifted, and the result of this approach was visible."