Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Andriy Kliuyev has called on MPs to speed up the adoption of laws as part of the EU integration plans of Ukraine.
He said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that this week's parliamentary agenda foresees the consideration of nine bills, the adoption of which is part of agreements reached by Ukraine and the EU.
"The adoption of eight of them is envisaged in the action plan on the liberalization by the EU of the visa regime for Ukraine," he said.
Kliuyev said that one of the most important bills is a bill introducing amendments to the law on preventing and combating corruption. He said that the issue also concerns improving the confiscation procedures, amending the Constitution of Ukraine concerning the extension of powers of the Accounting Chamber, and bringing a number of legislative acts into line with the new Criminal Procedure Code.
"The first step was made at the current plenary week – at the morning meeting on April 2 the parliament approved Ukraine's accession to the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and, in accordance with it, introduced amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine," he said.
Kliuyev said that it was also necessary to resolve the question of improving the institutional system of protection of personal data and consider the law on combating discrimination in Ukraine.
He recalled that on March 22 the Verkhovna Rada successfully ratified an agreement between Ukraine and the European Union amending the visa facilitation agreement.
He said that Ukraine and the EU are continuing to work on preparations for the signing of the Association Agreement. In particular, the two sides have already agreed on the technical and editorial changes to the text, while the relevant subunits of the European External Action Service and the European Commission have completed the legal and linguistic verification of the draft agreement in English and the translation of its text into most languages of the EU, Kliuyev said.
He also said that the Ukrainian government is taking a number of other measures to speed up the implementation of Ukraine's EU integration plans.
