2/04/2008

WELCOME BY MR LLUÍS MARIA DE PUIG,

PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY,

TO MRS YULIA TYMOSHENKO, PRIME MINISTER OF UKRAINE

(Strasbourg, Wednesday, 16 April 2008, 12h00)

I would now like to welcome Mrs Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Prime Minister,

You were one of the leaders in the Orange revolution in 2004, which gave a fresh start to the democratic reform process in your country.

Since then many of the democratic reforms have been accomplished, always with your active involvement.

Ukraine has become a pluralistic democracy, where political forces act in the framework of Ukraine’s constitution and in respect of democratic rules.

The most important achievements of this process were that the parliamentary elections in 2006 and 2007 were held in line with Council of Europe standards.

It is now of utmost importance to strengthen the democratic reforms and reinforce political stability in Ukraine. In this respect, the fulfilment of your country’s obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe is essential, not only for the successful integration of Ukraine into the European structures but equally for the promotion and protection of our shared values for the benefit of all our citizens.

I can assure you of the Assembly’s willingness to support Ukraine in fulfilling those obligations and commitments which your country freely accepted upon accession to the Council of Europe. Our monitoring procedure must not be understood as criticism but as assistance to advance on much needed democratic reforms.

You can always count on the Assembly’s support to defend and promote the core values of our Organisation in your country.

Ukraine is a crucial link for the unity of the European continent. Our priority must be to avoid new dividing lines in Europe and, therefore, we must not divide Council of Europe member States into “pro-Western” and “pro-Eastern”. There is only one Europe and one European family of democratic nations sharing the same values.

Prime Minister, your address here today is further evidence of the intensive dialogue and cooperation which exists between your country and the Parliamentary Assembly.

You have the floor.