Strasbourg, 26/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - Three weeks after his investiture as the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko made his first official visit to Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Of course, he is already familiar with this institution because he used to be a member but, in addition to any possible affection he may have for it, this visit is very important for a man who has confirmed that he is eager to launch major legislative reforms in his country. There are many areas to be covered: constitutional reform, reform of the electoral code and legal system and, above all, fighting the endemic corruption in his country and, in this domain, the expertise of the Council of Europe has no equal.
These “rule of law” issues are at any rate intrinsically linked to the association agreement with the European Union, the economic pillar of which will be signed on Friday 27 June, underlined Poroshenko, indicating that the fight against corruption is “an enormous challenge” for Ukraine. He added that, “if we do not manage to eradicate it, we will lose the other battles. I have told the Prosecutor General that we need immediate results but I am optimistic that we are ready for the reforms, ready for Europe and ready for peace”. The word peace was mentioned just before the expiry of the ceasefire with separatist forces unilaterally decreed by Ukraine on 14 June last. The Ukrainian president said that “we want to return to a civilised framework” but deplored the fact that Russia had so far not “sufficiently played the game”. “It has announced that it will not officially declare war on us, that is good news but in the meantime the unofficial war continues”. He called on Moscow to apply a peace plan, “approved by the majority of major countries in the world” and to “translate it into deeds and not just words”. The first of these tasks will be to “shift from the defence of the borders to peaceful control of them with the assistance of the OSCE”, explained Poroshenko, calling on Russia to constructively participate in this monitoring. This will be followed by a review of the economic infrastructure that has to a large extent been devastated in the east of the country. Poroshenko repeated his refusal to accept any “idea or separatism from outside” but reaffirmed his determination to develop local power structures, minority rights, language rights and the right of the different communities to “put flowers on the monuments of their choosing”. He said that “the amendments to the constitution I proposed correspond to a real programme for the decentralisation of power”. He also highlighted the exceptional nature of such an approach by a newly elected president. Closer ties with the EU and the recognition of regional languages, in addition to an official language, are the basis of Ukraine's future. “All the rest can be the subject of a public debate that has actually already begun, but on these points we will not compromise”. He considers that “the essential question is how to stop the escalation in violence but this is not just addressed to the Ukraine, it also concerns the whole of Europe which, for the time being, does not possess the mechanisms guaranteeing their territorial integrity”. The Ukrainian president concluded: “We need a new model because what is happening in our country can occur elsewhere”.
Russian delegation still turning its back to PACE debates
No-one from Russia was present to hear Poroshenko's speech because last April the Russian delegation walked out of this Council of Europe body, announcing that they would not return before January 2015. The reason for this anger was the suspension of its powers by PACE, which sought to censure it for its role in the Ukrainian crisis. Its absence is a hard blow to an assembly that is struggling to play its role as the defender of the rule of law and its ability to bring together in one chamber the representatives of 47 countries that are sometimes in conflict. The one sometimes endangers the other, which is effectively what happened during PACE's spring session. Anne Brasseur, the president of the Assembly, said that “We need to continue to talk to each other, dialogue is one of the Council of Europe's strengths”. She said that, “in this connection, I sent a letter to Sergei Naryshkin, the president of the Duma, to which a rather unflattering response was made but I am determined because the Ukrainian crisis cannot be resolved without Russia. The meeting I proposed to the president of the Duma, in Strasbourg next week, cannot take place because of prior diary commitments and we have agreed to resume contact at the beginning of September”. (VL)