Brussels, 04/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - At the end of its 24th visit to Ukraine on 31 October, the European Parliament mission of presidents Pat Cox and Aleksander Kwasniewski called on the members of the government and opposition parties within the Ukrainian parliament to talk to each other and reach a consensus so that Ukraine might be able to sign the association agreement with the EU at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius on 29 November. Stressing the “historic possibility” of being able to sign this agreement and taking note of the “very short time available to resolve the outstanding issues”, Cox and Kwasniewski urged “all the government and opposition parties in the Vekhovna Rada to make every effort to reach a consensus on the legislative steps forward and to do so as a matter of urgency”.
Adopting the draft law on prisoners. The mission stated that it had examined the draft laws on medical care abroad for people sentenced to prison. These draft laws might enable former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is suffering from disc hernias, to receive treatment in Germany. “We have come to the conclusion that the Labunska draft offers the best available basis on which to generate and seek the necessary consensus between government and opposition parties”, stated Cox and Kwaskniewski in a press release. “We earnestly request that every effort should be made to bring this urgent matter to finality as soon as possible”, they added.
On 1 November, Tymoshenko called on the opposition to approve this draft law promptly, “without any amendments and debates”, and thus to put aside the opposition's own draft law. “I ask all the deputies of the parliamentary opposition to, without any amendments and debates, promptly implement the proposal of the Cox-Kwasniewski mission and vote for Mrs Labunska's law and put aside the opposition's draft law that calls for my full rehabilitation, release and the restoration of my illegally denied civil rights”, Tymoshenko said in a statement. She added that any discussion on Labunska's proposal would lead to impasse, when there is virtually no more time left.
Although, according to Tymoshenko, the opposition's draft law is the best way of meeting the EU's requirements, “right now we need to act for our European future in the fastest and most realistic way, and put aside our interests and ambitions”, Tymoshenko said.
The opposition parties - Batkivschyna, Svododa and UDAR - are reportedly ready to back Labunska's draft law. This draft, along with two others, is due to be discussed in the Vekhovna Rada between 5 and 8 November. (CG/transl.fl)