In his Friday’s interview to the Rada TV channel, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy noted that the current plenary week had been quite busy and productive at the same time. In particular, there were adopted seventeen decisions of high importance.
Defence & Security
The week started with security and defence issues. Within the security cluster, A.Parubiy singled out a draft law on standardization, which introduces common standards for Ukraine and NATO, both in the military correspondence, documentation and in communication realms.
He reminded that Ukraine had undertaken to bring the Ukrainian armed forces and the entire security sector to NATO standards by 2020. "It is a very important step for unification and preparation for Ukraine's accession to NATO," stressed the head of parliament.
State Border
Of equal significance was also denoted to be the bill No.6777 on engineering support and technique of state borders, providing for a much tougher control over Ukraine’s frontiers.
Defence Procurements
"The draft law on procurements of defence-related goods, works and services is especially momentous for cooperation with the USA, as the bill allows it to trigger off financing Ukraine with the funds pre-allocated by the United States," stressed A.Parubiy. The security-and-defence issues plan was supported by the parliament in its entirety.
Agrarian Issues
According to A. Parubiy, a wide variety of agrarian matters was effectively addressed during this week, and the extension of land transfer prohibition, in particular.
Land Market
At the same time, the chairman expressed his firm position that Ukraine ought to have a land market. "Hiding behind the land market freeze, many dealers used to buy peasants’ lands up for a song, thus depriving the peasantry of land ownership rights," he said. Regretfully, as of today there has not been built any legislative frame regulating the land market, which entailed in turn the yearlong freeze extension.
"I do hope that this will be the last year for the land market moratorium. Next year, the government will have to draft and submit appropriate bills for consideration by the parliament," said the chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada.
Local Orthodox Church
The chairperson noted that the greatest vibrance and the widest web of intrigue had swirled around the draft laws concerning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church since the bills had faced a tough opposition from the so-called "pro-Kremlin” forces in the parliament. Luckily, all the statutes were finally approved.
According to the law No.5309, every one of the religious organizations, which makes up the structure (is part of) of a religious organization (association) whose governing body is located outside Ukraine in a state, legally recognized as committed military aggression against Ukraine and/or temporarily occupied Ukraine’s territory in part, is bound by law to reflect its affiliations to this foreign religious organization through reproducing the latter’s statute name in full in its own designation, with possible adding the wording “in Ukraine” and/or indicating its place in the structure of the aforementioned foreign religious organization. The bill also deters the clergy of such organizations from visiting Ukraine’s military as a whole.
Therefore, this act clearly prohibits and determines that the church in question is to be called “Russian Orthodox Church”. ”People need to know the nature of the church, and it needs to be thus clearly identified,” explained A. Parubiy.
Andriy Parubiy apprised that together with the President of Ukraine and the Metropolitan Epiphanius he had been invited by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to Istanbul with the aim to participate in the ceremony of receiving the Tomos on January 6, 2019.
"This is the final stage of the bright path we have done, the fundamental phase – receiving the Tomos from hands of His Most Divine All Holiness, Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch. I am sure that this is a great day for all Christians," he said, then adding that "the issue of the church is a question not only of just religion, but also of our security and identity," said the politician.
"I am sure that these days - the creation of the Autocephalous Orthodox Ukrainian Church and the receipt of the Tomos - will be etched in gold in the book of Ukraine’s victories," highlighted the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine A.Parubiy.