First vice-speaker meets Riksdag delegation on vital points of home and foreign policies
23 May 2019, 16:00
The First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko met on May 23 with the delegation of Swedish Riksdag, headed by the Third Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Kerstin Lundgren, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs withal.
Iryna Herashchenko thanked for supporting Ukraine in advancing reforms, for the position of Swedish delegations to PACE, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament on the issue of counteracting Russia’s aggression and the restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty.
The first vice-speaker stressed up the position of Ukraine upon the return of the Russian delegation to PACE - it is only possible if the Assembly’s resolutions are fulfilled. Particular attention was paid to the problem of hostages and prisoners of the military.
“On May 25 in Hamburg, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will announce its decision on our warships and prisoners of war. We are counting upon a positive decision in favour of Ukraine, as Russia roughly violated international law on November 25 in the Kerch Strait last year. As long as the president of the Russian Federation Putin wants to save his face, he should immediately release the seamen – prior to the court decision and without any preconditions,” asserted I. Herashchenko.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the state of implementation of anti-corruption and medical reforms, decentralization, modernization of the army as well as the spheres of security and defence.
Speaking of electoral novelties, the politician stressed they are standing for open voting lists and gender quotas of 30% at the least. Iryna Herashchenko also expressed her hopes that the parliament would make this quota change to the law, whilst the political parties - prior to the upcoming elections - would publicly commit themselves to adhere to the mentioned quota level for one sex.
The first vice-speaker noted that the recent presidential elections in Ukraine were held on the basis of democratic standards, fully in line with the standards of the OSCE – and with the record-breaking number of international observers partaking.
She stressed the unconstitutionality of the president's dissolution decree and urged European partners to send a wide mission of international observers for the July 21 election initiated by the newly elected president.
In the course of the meeting, the Swedish Riksdag’s representatives ventilated the issue of further talks on the peaceful settlement of the situation in the Donbas and the pressing points of the humanitarian sub-group of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine.
“We are ready to urgently provide all the necessary information to the new team experts who will be working in the Minsk groups and dealing with the release of hostages in order to bring the freedom of our citizens closer. So far, there has not been such a meeting,” underlined I.Herashchenko.
The Third Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Kerstin Lundgren said that Sweden does support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine in its internationally recognized borders. She also noted that the Swedish Parliament is interested in the all-round development of inter-parliamentary cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and bilateral relations with Ukraine.