Vice speaker greets Euronest friends, bearing out Ukraine’s eurointegration aspirations
30 October 2019, 17:30
“Our goal is membership in the European Union, no matter how complicated, lengthy and tedious this path might be,” – Olena Kondratiuk, the Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
The vice speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Olena Kondratiuk, held a working meeting with a delegation of the Bureau of the EU Parliamentary Assembly - Eastern Neighbours (the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly).
“We aim to be a member of the European Union, no matter how difficult and long this pathway may be. We are taking every opportunity we can to bring us closer to joining the united family of European countries,” she stated during the meeting.
Olena Kondratiuk thanked the head of the delegation Andrius Kubilius and all of the Bureau members for their consistent support of Ukraine on its path to reform and further convergence towards European standards.
She also observed the strong support of Ukraine on the part of the European Union in resisting the Russian aggression.
“In our current parliament’s leadership, I represent the forces of opposition. However, I want to assure you that despite who we are in the majority or minority all of us do represent a unified Ukraine at the international arena. We are all one in our European integration aspirations,” O. Kondratiuk emphasized.
Andrius Kubilius, in his turn, stressed that the Euronest delegation treats Ukraine with extraordinary benevolence and sympathy, it does understand the challenges that our country faces and is ready to assist Ukraine's European integration by all means possible.
“The success of Ukraine and the Eastern Partnership countries is very important to us. We are working hard towards this direction and look forward to continuing our partnership,” Andrius Kubilius averred.
During the meeting, the parties also discussed the crisis of values in the Council of Europe and the PACE. The vice speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine informed her colleagues about the results of the visit of the Ukrainian delegation to the conference of parliament heads of the Council of Europe and the cooperation with the Baltic Plus group.
Once again, Olena Kondratiuk underlined that Russia's return to the PACE still remains fundamentally unacceptable for Ukraine.
The parties also agreed to coordinate their efforts and reach a common position in the run-up to the Eastern Partnership summit in 2020.