Parliamentary Assembly

Mr Porochenko, President of Ukraine

The whole of Ukraine – the people and the authorities – have learned from the mistakes. That is why the second revolution is completely different. The reason for the second revolution is very simple. The people on the streets were not demanding increased salaries or pensions, the lowering of taxes or any other demands that are normal in a democratic society. They were demanding a European future. That is very clear. They were demanding the signing of the association agreement because it was the only chance to reform the country.

The people were also demanding immediate action on democracy. We have already passed the first test with the presidential election. Ukraine has never before had such a free, fair and transparent presidential election. It demonstrated that the people of Ukraine are united, because every region of the country supported one candidate. We have demonstrated that we are ready for reform, ready for Europe and ready for peace. We will fulfil the expectations of the Ukrainian people.

Mr Porochenko, President of Ukraine

Thank you for that question. From the first day that I became president, my top priority was renewed control of the Russian-Ukrainian border. On 7 June, 287 kilometres of the border were uncontrolled. Through a military operation, we have renewed control over the whole border. Ukrainian border control officers are in place at the crucial border posts. Immediately after the cease-fire, when we could not use force, one of the border posts was captured again by the bandits. However, I can assure you that our military forces at the border posts have removed the possibility of sending tanks, armoured personnel carriers and troops into Ukraine.

We need a strong form of co-operation with Russia, because we cannot have the uncontrolled flow of heavy artillery, tanks and troops to shift the balance in the region. That was one of the major points in yesterday’s negotiation with President Putin. We are interested in inviting inspectors from the OSCE and other international organisations to monitor the situation on the border. I am sure that it is possible to keep control on the border, because that is a key factor in the peace plan. Without that, we cannot talk about peace.

Mr Porochenko, President of Ukraine

That is the top priority for the reforms. Like a cancer, corruption paralysed the Ukrainian Government and authority system. Without a transparent fight against corruption, we have no chance of success. That is why my first proposal would be not only to appoint a general prosecutor who would be responsible for corruption, but to implement the package of anti-corruption reforms that is an integral part of the association agreement with the European Union. Significant parts of the changes to legislation have already been done. Now, as we begin to implement them, we must make the process transparent, well understood and effective, and take quick steps. We are ready for that, and I am absolutely sure that, with a new president and government, the political will in Ukraine will bring very quick results.

Mr Porochenko, President of Ukraine

It is a very important and key challenge that Ukraine demonstrates, by not only its words but by its actions, its will to peace. I repeat that we have paid a very high price for demonstrating that, but it was a unilateral cease-fire. It was a well-co-ordinated international action, and the whole world now has evidence that Ukraine is ready to go the peaceful way to resolve the conflict.

I will give a simple example. Yesterday, we agreed that today we would hold a meeting with the trilateral commission – a representative of the Russian Ambassador, the ex-President of Ukraine and the ambassador from the OSCE. They are collected together, but unfortunately we do not have a representative from the separatists because they are not interested. That is very symbolic for the prospect of peaceful regulation of the current situation. Tomorrow will be the end point. I have had it confirmed that only half an hour ago the separatists demonstrated their interest in participating, less than 12 hours before the end of the ceasefire. A lot depends on tomorrow’s negotiations. If a key element of the peace plan is accepted by the separatists, that will give us strong hopes. If it is rejected, we will have to make a very important decision tomorrow. I cannot comment on what type of decision we will make.

Mr Porochenko, President of Ukraine

Thank you for your question. The fact that you had that debate this morning is a good demonstration of the kind of attention the Parliamentary Assembly pays to the Ukrainian question. That is very important to us.

To answer your question, my first point is that the separatists have not ceased fire. Over all six days that the Ukrainian army has been keeping the cease-fire and opening fire only in return, it has been attacked by separatists. They have made a public statement that they do not recognise the peace plan or the cease-fire. Today, after yesterday’s phone conversation with the Russian President, their position changed. We will see tomorrow.

On the humanitarian question, as I have said, we risked the lives of our workers in yesterday in order to restore the energy, water and electricity supply to Donetsk, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, where for 10, 12 or 14 days people have been without electricity and water. We used the cease-fire to restore the supply, although the workers were under the fire of the separatists. We arranged special conditions for those people who should leave Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Donbass. We created for them the conditions in which they can wait for the situation to improve.

As I told you, my top priority is peace. That is why I developed the peace plan, why we provided changes to the constitutional legislation, why we proposed an amnesty law, and why we are engaged in very important international negotiations. Unfortunately, if we offer our hands in peace but they are left hanging in the air, it would be very difficult for us to remain in that position for a long period of time. That is why this is an important moment not only for Ukraine or Donbass, or for bilateral relations between Russia and Ukraine, but for the whole of Europe. These things can happen in any country if we do not demonstrate solidarity and create mechanisms to maintain stability and security in Europe.

Mr Porochenko, President of Ukraine

First, corruption is a key challenge for us. If we do not demonstrate quick results in the fight against corruption, we will lose every battle. We need not only changes to legislation – we have had a lot of laws before – but practical, critical results that the Ukrainian authorities can demonstrate now. That was the main message that I gave to the prosecutor general last week – I want immediate results. No person should be outside the law in Ukraine, and I am very optimistic, because corruption can exist in a country only when it has the umbrella of the absence of political will to fight against it. Now, we are ruining that umbrella and demonstrating that there is political will in the country and that we are fighting. The people should trust us, and without that we cannot gain the trust of the people. The whole of Ukraine and all the authorities now understand that, I promise you.

Thank you very much, Ms Beck, for your words of support for the sovereignty of Ukraine. You are absolutely right that at the election, there was a very important challenge. The election had to be absolutely transparent and as good as we could make it in order to be recognised. The number of observers that we had during the election simply leaves nobody with a chance not to recognise the new authorities, the new president and the new Ukraine. That is the first small, but very important, victory. You are absolutely right about that.

Mr Badea, your question was on the key issue of decentralisation. In our parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, we have Mr Popescu, who represents the Romanian minority in the parliament. The key issue of decentralisation is that never, ever again will the question of language and culture break my country’s unity. Defending the rights of minorities is my top priority, and I refer to the Romanian, Slovakian and Russian minorities, and to the Crimean Tatars. I am very proud that today, a representative of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemiliev, is with us. He is a great leader of the Crimean Tatars and a great Ukrainian patriot and Ukrainian hero. When we demonstrate that relationship with the national minorities, it will keep the nation together. That is very important.

Mr Porochenko, President of Ukraine

On the first question, I have great experience of solving the question of Transnistria. We should not give any separatist movement any chance, because at the beginning of the 1990s Moldova had a similar process to the one that we now have in the Donetsk and Luhansk region, and it tried to freeze the conflict using Russian peacekeepers. In Transnistria, for almost 30 years hundreds of thousands of people have lived in very poor conditions, without democracy or economic development and with corruption. That is a very good lesson that we should learn in working out how to avoid the Transnistria scenario in the Donetsk and Luhansk region. Moldova paid a very high price for that, and we are a great supporter of Moldovan unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty. The fact that we will be together tomorrow signing an association agreement will improve our chance of solving the question of the frozen conflict that has existed for years and years, through the joint efforts of Ukraine, Moldova and the European Union, and with the possible participation of Russia.

On the visa-free regime, tomorrow I will sign the second part of the DCFTA, which is very important for my country. We have already made decisions during the first phase of the visa-free regime, and I am absolutely sure that in the second half of the year, Ukraine will implement the laws that we passed during that first phase. We have a great chance to have a visa-free regime for all Ukrainians on 1 January 2015. During the revolution, Ukrainians have passed important exams in democracy and in being European. That is important for me.

But this is not the end. We not only want to have a full association agreement, the DCFTA and a visa-free regime; my main purpose is to provide reform so effectively that within a short period Ukraine can be granted a European Union membership perspective. We count on your support, colleagues, on that very important question.

On your question, Mr Jenssen, about maintaining democratic standards and providing democratic reform, it is impossible to obtain a European Union membership perspective without democracy, without effective economic reform, without meeting the economic, democratic and social criteria and so on. That is my top priority, because I am positive that we will solve the questions of war and peace and of security this year. The truth is with us, God is with us, and Europe and the whole world are with us, and our opponent is in complete isolation. There will be peaceful victory together.

Mr Porochenko, President of Ukraine

On court reform, I will be absolutely open and frank with you. For me, the most difficult and complicated question is that of peace and security but the second is court reform. You are absolutely right that we can all write laws, but we cannot easily create new judges and a new independent court system. That is an important challenge for us, working in effective co-operation with the European Union and the Council of Europe. We want a court system that is absolutely independent and transparent. We will build on this relationship and I think we have a great chance of establishing that. It is difficult to start court reform when the level of trust in the courts is less than 4%. Can you imagine the starting conditions necessary for doing that? Without an independent court system, we cannot fight corruption, and that is connected to reform. Court reform is one of the top priorities and Mr Díaz Tejera is absolutely right.

On the question of the parties, my personal opinion is that it is right to ban a party in that if people do not support a party it should be banned by an election. If you provide an election, certain parties, including the Communist Party, would not be supported by the voters. That is the most democratic way to remove the party from political life, allocating responsibility for the old blood and the victims of the Maidan, as Communist Party representatives in particular voted in organising all those type of things. What is the most democratic way to remove the party? Early parliamentary elections, which I have tried to declare. I positively hope that they will take place in October.

As for the Right Sector and other parties, again, the propaganda said that support for the nationalists is high in our society but altogether all the candidates from the nationalist parties received less than 2% of the vote. That is good evidence that Ukrainian society is quite healthy and Ukrainian voters are responsible. Those messages were simply not true and in a democratic society, we can treat ourselves through elections.

The humanitarian situation is difficult, it is true. We provide effective co-operation with the United Nations and the OSCE and we try to do our best to help people, but it is very dangerous to go in to the conflict zone. Every day, hostages are captured, including representatives of the humanitarian mission. We should take into account that this is not just a problem of war and peace but a problem with the humanitarian regime. We cannot wait a long time for people to come to the negotiation table because on every day that we wait people would be killed and the humanitarian problems would increase. We need to act quickly and effectively.

Mr Porochenko, President of Ukraine

First, let me thank all the countries who participated in the last group of questions. Canada was one of the first to support us in our independence, as it was the first country to recognise Ukrainian independence. All this time, Canada has been one of the strongest advocates of Ukrainian independence and has supported Ukrainian sovereignty. We have a responsibility and we are absolutely sure that, together, we can win the fight for peace and provide reform. We have already had very effective bilateral consultation with the Canadian Government. The Canadian Prime Minister attended my inauguration and I am very satisfied with his perspective on Canadian assistance with reform.

In answer to the question from Lithuania, the Euromaidan started at the time of the summit in Vilnius. You will remember how great our disappointment was when former President Yanukovych refused to sign the well-prepared association agreement. That gave us an additional argument for fighting for our country and our European future. The support of Lithuania and President Grybauskaitė was continuous. I remember her speech at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius. Again, the key issue for us is solidarity, and that people consider Ukrainian pain and problems their own. Ukraine will do the same by understanding the level of European problems. We are one European family. We should keep together and we are together. This is very important to us.

It is the same with the question from the United Kingdom. That country is our strongest advocate in Europe. When I meet Prime Minister Cameron and opposition leader Miliband, Ukraine is one of the few questions on which they are strongly together. There is a very high level of responsibility on us, and on me personally, now that so many have views on Ukraine. I understand how important it is to be adequate to this expectation. I understand that it is probably the last chance for a democratic, European Ukraine. We need to win this battle together – it is that simple.

Thanks to all of you for your support and for this session. It is very important to us to have such support at present, as it was in the past when you took decisions on the Crimean occupation and aggression. I hope to have your support in the future.