23 February 2016, 13:59
On Tuesday, February 23, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman met with Foreign Affairs Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Foreign Affairs Minister of the French Republic Jean-Marc Ayrault. The Parties discussed current political situation in Ukraine and implementation of reforms, as well as the state of observance of the Minsk agreements on the eve of the meeting of the foreign affairs ministers in the Normandy Format (with the participation of Ukraine, Germany, Russia and France) in Paris (France) on March 3.
The Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada noted that despite the complicated political situation in the country, the Ukrainian Parliament shows its ability to unite in settling the problems and taking effective decisions. In particular, he reminded that recently the people's deputies adopted a package of draft laws aimed at the implementation of the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan for Ukraine.
Groysman also assured that Ukraine was absolutely committed to the implementation of the Minsk agreements, however, the other side ignores its obligations. "When we see absolute inobservance of all obligations by the Russian Federation, we understand that it complicates the whole process and facilitates further escalation of the situation," he said. "It is very hard to find arguments when your citizens are killed," the Chairperson of the Ukrainian Parliament noted.
"For quite a long period time so far, I have started my mornings with reading the news about the number of shelling cases [in Donbas]. And all of that is done with the use of the Russian weapons on the territory of sovereign Ukraine," the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada said.
Groysman also said that the policy of pressure on the Russian Federation should be prolonged as that country does not fulfill a provision of the Minsk agreements. "We hope that the policy of pressure on the aggressor will be preserved, and that the European Union will remain committed to ousting Russian troops, weapons, militants and Russian soldiers from the territory of Ukraine, to restoration of borders, holding of reintegration of all those territories and restoration of peace in a sovereign, independent and European country," Groysman said.
In turn, the foreign affairs ministers of France and Germany assured of readiness of their countries to continue their support to Ukraine. Mr. Steinmeier noted that both France and Germany strongly support the efforts to make Ukraine a democratic, independent and pluralistic country.
The heads of the foreign affairs ministries of France and Germany noted the importance of further reforms in Ukraine. They stressed that the European Union demanded clear signal from Ukraine indicating that the reforms will continue despite complicated political situation in the country.
Groysman assured of further reformation of the country. "We are moving forward and do not even think of stopping on the way of reforms as that would be unacceptable," he said.
At the same time, the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada noted that the reforms required intensification.
Commenting on the internal political situation in Ukraine, Groysman said he had initiated holding a roundtable with the participation of the President of Ukraine, Prime Minister, key political forces of the Ukrainian Parliament and the civil society representatives to hold a dialogue and find the solution to current crisis. Such a mechanism, in the words of the Ukrainian Speaker, will allow holding public, professional discussion and elaborate precise action plan with clear distribution of duties and further reload of the authorities.
"Finding a solution to the political crisis, holding respective dialogue, reload of the coalition and the Government have to facilitate the reforms," the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada assured.