21/09/2010 President
Strasbourg, 21.09.2010 – “After years of political instability, the holding of a democratic presidential election and the creation of the new governing coalition gives Ukraine a unique chance to carry out the reforms which the country urgently needs,” PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu stressed today at a press conference in Kyiv. On an official visit to the country from 20 to 22 September, Mr Çavusoglu said he had congratulated the President on his ambitious reform programme and reiterated the support and assistance of the Council of Europe for these reforms.
He stressed that the quality of the adopted legislation, which must be based on international legal standards and expertise, was paramount. “In this connection, I urged the authorities to systematically seek the opinion of the Venice Commission before draft laws are adopted,” he said. Stressing that the role of the opposition was extremely important, the President added that he had invited the authorities to associate different political forces in the country with the reform process and to resist the temptation of excessive concentration of power. “It is important to ensure a long-standing political stability based on political pluralism,” he concluded.
Other issues raised during his official visit were the freedom of the media, the rights of minorities, measures to integrate the Tatars of Crimea, and the integration of Ukraine in the European Union.
During his visit, the PACE President met with President Viktor Yanukovych, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and the leadership of coalition and opposition factions, as well as NGO representatives.
The PACE President will continue his visit on 22 September in Odessa where he will meet professors and students of the Odessa National Law Academy as well as representatives of the local and regional authorities.
A report on “The functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine” will be debated by the Assembly on Tuesday 5 October during the forthcoming plenary session in Strasbourg.