Brussels, 30/08/2007 (Agence Europe) - Representatives of several Ukrainian political parties were present at the European Parliament on Tuesday 28 August as Ukraine prepared to go to the ballot boxes on 30 September for its long-awaited legislative elections. Under the chairmanship of Adrian Severin (PES, Romania), who heads the EP delegation at the EU-Ukraine parliamentary cooperation committee, MEPs largely discussed relations between Ukraine and the EU after the elections.
Meant to put an end to the power struggle between Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich, the elections are contested by the Party of the Regions and the Socialist Party in power. Volodomyr Vecherko of the Party of the Regions and Vitaly Shybko of the Socialist Party said the elections have “no legal grounds” but that their responsibility was to “avoid the split of the country”. Speaking for the opposition parties, Nataliya Prokopovych of Our Ukraine and Hryhoriy Nemyrya of the Block Yulia Tymoshenko said the corruption of Rada deputies warranted a presidential decree to put an end to the previous legislature and calling for early elections (EUROPE 9400).
Answering Charles Tannock (EPP-ED, UK) and Istvan Szent-Ivanyi (ALDE, Hungary) on Ukraine's future foreign policy, Mr Nemyryaa said his country saw itself as a “catalyst in the deconstruction of the post-Soviet space in the region”, that is in Moldova, Belarus and the Caucasus, with a European perspective. In his view, the Party of the Regions, on the other hand, sees Ukraine as a 'bridge between the EU and Russia”.
We point out that the EU will be sending an electoral observation mission to Ukraine, composed of seven MEPs. (ab)