Stefanchuk: 37 MPs on self-funded business trip to USA
Only 37 Ukrainian deputies are on a business trip to the United States, said Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, commenting on the statements of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the "permanent business trips" of Ukrainian parliamentarians.
"Ukraine faces a very important task - to reset our relations with our strategic partners, which are the United States. And we are doing this systematically at all levels, at absolutely all levels, including at the level of restoring our relations with the Congress and the U.S. Senate. And that is why a large delegation, 37 people, I think, who simultaneously represent half, even more than half of the opposition, went there in order to systematically work with senators and congressional deputies to establish relations," Stefanchuk said.
He noted that the deputies are not on a business trip at the state expense, but left for the United States at their own expense.
In addition, the speaker added, deputies are actively working in committees, including in frontline territories.
"The Ukrainian parliament is working everywhere, always working, working according to the schedule. Parliament's work is not limited to pushing buttons. This is work in committees, this is work in temporary investigative commissions, this is work on the diplomatic front," the speaker stressed.
As reported, Zelenskyy criticized MPs who spend a lot of time on business trips abroad the day before. "Today we have the prayer breakfast of the United States of America. This is already very important when the floor of the Parliament of Ukraine is at a prayer breakfast. Not in Kherson, not in Kharkiv region, not in Zaporizhia, not in Sumy ... The problem is not in the United States - the issue is permanent business trips, not daily painstaking work for the people who elected them," Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday.
The President added that he was satisfied with the work of the parliament, but "unfortunately, the parliament does not work every day."