05 November 2015, 18:30
On November 4-5, the Second meeting of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee took place headed by Ostap Semerak on behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and Andrej Plenkovic on behalf of the European Parliament.
The meeting participants were Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Groysman, people's deputies of Ukraine, members of the European Parliament, representatives of the Ukrainian Government, diplomatic corps and members of the public. Another participant of the meeting was Head of the Needs Assessment Mission of the European Parliament Pat Cox, who informed members of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee about the work of the Mission he headed.
The meeting participants discussed important issues of the agenda of relations between Ukraine and the EU, exchanged opinions on the political and security situation in Ukraine and in the east of the country.
The members of the Ukrainian delegation at the meeting informed their European partners about the course of reforms in Ukraine, about the status of implementation of the EU Visa Liberalization Action Plan for Ukraine. The European Parliament representatives appreciated the course of decentralization of power, steps aimed at creation of proper legislative and institutional background to combat corruption. At the same time, they noted that the reforms should be sped up despite all the challenges Ukraine faced.
The key topic of the meeting was the situation in Donbas, humanitarian crisis as a result of the Russia's aggression against Ukraine. The Parties agreed with the necessity for full implementation of the Minsk agreements by Russia. The members of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee stated the necessity for retention of sanctions to guarantee the full implementation of the Minsk agreements and restore territorial integrity of Ukraine.
At the end of the Second meeting of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee, the Final Statement and Recommendations were passed.