Pressure on russia and Ukraine's recovery: Oleksandr Korniienko's working visit to Brussels
During his working visit to Brussels, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Korniienko held a series of important bilateral meetings with international colleagues.
During a meeting with Bas Eickhout, Co-Chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance political group, the First Deputy Speaker raised the issue of Ukraine's reconstruction. "I emphasised that our position is to build better than before. I informed him that we have a number of projects from large businesses in the field of green energy," Oleksandr Korniienko said, thanking his colleague for the PURL and SAFE defence programmes. The parties discussed the possibility of Mr. Bas and his colleagues to visit Ukraine.
The First Deputy Speaker also had a substantive conversation with Thijs Reuten, a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. Oleksandr Korniienko informed his colleague in detail about the consequences of russia's missile strikes on Ukrainian territory and, in particular, about the enemy's intention to cause power outages (blackouts) in Ukrainian cities. "In this regard, he stressed the need to strengthen the protection of Ukrainian airspace by providing air defence systems. Joint measures to put pressure on russia are also needed," he said. The parties also discussed the importance of transferring frozen russian assets to Ukraine for use, as those who committed the crimes must compensate for the damage caused.
With Vice-President of the European Parliament Ewa Kopacz, the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine discussed joint actions that will help significantly bring Ukraine closer to joining the European Union. During the meeting, Oleksandr Korniienko informed his colleague about the peculiarities of the Ukrainian Parliament's work under martial law, emphasising Ukraine's efforts to strengthen the state's institutional capacity in the field of European integration and to improve the qualifications of Ukrainian civil servants. "We raised the issue of returning Ukrainian children who were illegally abducted by russia," said the First Deputy Speaker.
Oleksandr Korniienko also discussed Ukraine's path to European integration with Pekka Toveri, head of the EP delegation to the Ukraine-EU Parliamentary Association Committee. He briefed his European colleague on the reforms already implemented in Ukraine and plans for further steps, emphasising that an active budget process would begin soon. "I shared the current situation in Ukraine and stressed the need to strengthen military assistance to protect against enemy attacks," said the First Deputy Speaker.
Oleksandr Korniienko took advantage of the opportunity to engage in dialogue with representatives of the European Young Political Leaders programme to discuss with the new generation of future politicians topical issues of Ukraine's budget process and the specifics of our country's relations with partner countries. Separately, the First Deputy Speaker noted the effectiveness of the Ukrainian diplomatic mission in Brussels.
During the foreign visit, a substantive exchange of views took place between Oleksandr Korniienko and members of the European Parliament. The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Taras Kachka, who reported on the implementation of Ukraine's roadmap on the rule of law, the successes of anti-corruption bodies and further steps in the reform of the judiciary.
"For my part, I expressed gratitude for the openness to dialogue and the recently adopted resolution of the European Parliament. I noted that we are counting on further support from all political parties in the European Parliament," Oleksandr Korniienko said. In his conversation with European parliamentarians, he also noted the importance of integrating Ukraine's gas market with the EU market at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. In addition, the First Deputy Speaker spoke about the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of three draft laws within the framework of the Ukraine Facility programme and expressed his hope for support for the earliest possible opening of the first cluster of negotiations within the framework of Ukraine's European integration process.
During the First Deputy Speaker's visit to Brussels, the Ukrainian House was officially opened, which will become a permanent platform for dialogue and cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union. "On behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, I expressed hope that this house will be a place where important decisions will be made not only for our state, but also for the European Union and our common European future. Ukraine has stood firm and continues to fight the enemy on the battlefield thanks to the support of hundreds of thousands of EU citizens, European institutions and EU countries,‘ Oleksandr Kornienko emphasised. He expressed his gratitude to each and every one of them and added: ’Together, we can stop evil and build a successful future."