A.Plenković praises Ukraine's draft constitutional amendments on decentralisation and judiciary
Andrej Plenković (EPP, HR), chairman of the EP Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee, praised today the Ukrainian authorities for fully following the recommendations of the Venice Commission on the draft amendments to the Ukraine's Constitution on decentralisation and judiciary. On behalf of the delegation, he also deplored convictions in Russia of Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and his co-defendant Ukrainian activist Oleksandr Kolchenko.
Following the delegation meeting in Strasbourg today, Mr Plenković issued the following statement :
"We had today a very good working session with Mr Gianni Buquicchio, President of the Venice Commission, on the ongoing reform process in Ukraine. This was preceded by a discussion this morning with the ambassadors of the EU Member States to the Council of Europe which I attended, together with Mr Buquicchio, upon invitation by the Head of the EU Delegation to the Council of Europe Mr Jari Vilén.
My colleagues and I very much welcomed both the excellent work done by the Venice Commission and the positive opinions this body was in a position to deliver on the constitutional amendments tabled on decentralisation and judiciary.
Decentralisation is a crucial step on the road to the modernisation of the country, as well as in the context of the implementation of the Minsk Agreement. It will be important for the Verkhovna Rada to reach the necessary majority to pass these amendments in second reading. We therefore call on our counterparts in all political groups to address this issue in a responsible manner.
On judiciary, we commend President Poroshenko for submitting today the draft constitutional amendments to the Verkhovna Rada and hope that the first reading can take place still this year, after the constitutional court has provided its opinion.
Once adopted, these constitutional amendments will need to be reflected in laws which we will closely follow-up in the framework of our inter-parliamentary work with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
We reiterate our strong support to the consolidation of rule of law in Ukraine and our readiness to assist Ukraine with all means at our disposal within the framework of the implementation of the Association Agreement. In this respect, we express our satisfaction on the fact that all parliaments of the EU Member States have now ratified the Association Agreement and we expect the remaining ones to deposit the instruments of ratification as soon as possible.
Today, we also deplore the decision taken yesterday by the Russian Supreme Court to uphold the convictions of Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and his co-defendant Ukrainian activist Oleksandr Kolchenko, sentenced to 20 and 10 years respectively, and reiterate our call for their immediate release."