Popesku: Leadership of Ukraine's delegation and members of PACE committees to be elected in Strasbourg

The permanent delegation of the Ukrainian parliament of the seventh convocation to the PACE will meet in Strasbourg ahead of the PACE session and elect its leadership and, in accordance with the quota principle, and representation in PACE committees will be distributed, Party of Regions MP and member of Ukraine's permanent delegation to the PACE Ivan Popesku has said.

"Ukraine has a certain number of seats in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The issue concerns 12 key seats that will be taken by the members of our delegation, who have the right to vote, and they have 12 deputies. The deputies participate in the work of PACE agencies only when the key members of the delegation are absent. That is, the main member of the delegation can be replaced only by a deputy representing the same faction. Each faction has a respective quota: the Party of Regions - 5, Batkivschyna – 3, and UDAR, Svoboda, the Communists and independent deputies each – 1," the press service of the Party of Regions quoted him as saying on Thursday.

Popesku said that if the main member of the delegation cannot go, he is replaced by his deputy. Thus the proportion is preserved, and each faction will be heard, he added.

"There are six committees in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that are distributed by [national] delegations. And there is a provision that each committee should include members of the opposition and members of the majority. Thus, opposition members will be in each committee," he said.

"The opposition will be represented in each committee. And the quota principle will be applied in any case. The opposition has its quota, and nobody will deprive [the opposition] of anything. Nobody will take away the quota from the opposition," he said.

"We have ten days [from the date of approval of the delegation] to hold a meeting of the delegation. The session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe begins on January 21. Five members of the Party of Regions, three Batkivschyna representatives, and one each from UDAR, Svoboda, the Communists and independent deputies will go to Strasbourg. They will be able to resolve all questions during a meeting, which we traditionally hold ahead of the PACE session," Popesku said.