20:52 18.04.2013

MEP Kowal: EP made sure that Cox-Kwasniewski mission based on dialogue, brings results

3 min read

Members of the European Parliament have been convinced that the observation mission of former European Parliament President Pat Cox and former President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski to Ukraine is based on a dialogue and is bringing results, Head of the Parliamentary Delegation on Cooperation with Ukraine Pawel Kowal has said.

"Although three months ago no one could say if the Cox-Kwasniewski mission should be prolonged, today the issue raised no questions. The principle of the mission's work is based on a dialogue and it works better than boycott threats and other political tools. No one criticized it. The members of the European Parliament today share the opinion that this idea of sending special envoys works. This is a successful tactic," Kowal said in an exclusive interview with an Interfax-Ukraine reporter following a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament, during which the observation mission reported on its work in Ukraine.

He praised the mission's work and said that the pardoning and release of former Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko was "a political success" thanks to which it was decided to prolong the mission.

"We decided to prolong the mission and the next report, the third one, will be presented at the Conference of Presidents in September," he said.

In addition, Kowal assumed that the mission could also have political character aimed at the promotion of European integration in Ukraine.

"They [Cox and Kwasniewski] should communicate to representatives of the government and the opposition, they should promote the European vector in Ukraine, and all this should be carried out in the context of the signing of the [Association] Agreement. The EU is expecting from Ukraine the fulfillment of its obligations related not only to specific people," he said.

Kowal stressed that this Thursday was a good day for Ukraine in the European Parliament.

"We voted for the Visa Facilitation Agreement and we received information from Kyiv that [Verkhovna Rada Chairman] Volodymyr Rybak has appointed the membership of a Ukrainian delegation [to the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Committee], and we can expect that they will find a compromise in appointing its chairman. I can say that it was a good day for Ukraine in the European Parliament, which there was a few in recent years," Kowal said.

As reported, on April 18 the European Parliament has given the green light to the entry into force of the amended Visa Facilitation Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

A simple majority of MEPs voted for this decision in Strasbourg on April 18, 2013.

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