Ukraine plans to create 'dream team' for monitoring compliance of Ukrainian legislation with EU requirements – Stefanchuk
Ukraine plans to create a team of experts that will monitor the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with the requirements of the European Union on the way to full membership in the EU, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk has said.
"We will have a completely new approach to bills related to European integration. Firstly, each of them will have a table of compliance with directives. Without this, not a single bill can be considered in the hall as European integration. Secondly, this is powerful expert support, as that an appropriate expert center will be created both at the government level and at the parliamentary level. We are creating such a European integration 'dream team' that will monitor the compliance of our legislation with the legislation of the European Union," he told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.
According to the chairman, Ukraine is negotiating with the European Parliament in order to establish links between the committees of the Verkhovna Rada and the European Parliament in order to adopt their standards and approaches.
"Over the past month, we have formed a clear understanding of how each branch of power should move towards the opening of negotiations that will relate to our full membership in the European Union. The Verkhovna Rada and the government know what they should do, the president coordinates this activity as the leader of the processes. Regarding the Verkhovna Rada, first of all, this is about how we should fulfill the seven proposals that have been submitted to us. The Verkhovna Rada already has a clear list of bills that we will follow," Stefanchuk said.
According to him, in the course of a month the Verkhovna Rada worked out a "regulatory track" along which European integration bills will be promoted.
"We held a large number of meetings with all subjects of the legislative initiative. A lot has been done this month, and I hope that the main activity will start in September, and by that time we will be fully prepared to move along the track of European integration laws," the chairman said.
In addition, Stefanchuk said, according to the agreement, the government will become the main developer of European integration bills, and the parliament will conduct the necessary examination and, accordingly, adopt them.
"There will be a little more than 30 of these legislative acts. As we discussed with Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Olha Stefanishyna, these are exactly the bills that we need to fulfill the requirements for Association with the EU. After negotiations are opened, more than 30 directions will be open before us for the adoption of legislative acts. We are preparing for it and preparing this fast track for their passage in parliament," he said.
The Verkhovna Rada chairman also recalled what kind of legislative acts should be adopted on the way to full membership in the European Union.
"First of all, these are amandments to the law on the Constitutional Court regarding the introduction of a competitive selection system. Secondly, this is legislation to strengthen the requirements for the FATF (these are issues related to the circulation of funds in order to reduce the level of corruption and abuse). Thirdly, this is legislation on the media, we are waiting for the final version, which is approved by the relevant committee, and only after that the bill will be able to get into the courtroom for consideration. It is also legislation on national minorities, amendments to the law on the fight against oligarchs, which will be made after receipt conclusions of the Venice Commission. This is the block of issues entrusted to the Verkhovna Rada. In addition, there is already a decision on the SAPO prosecutor, a competition for NABU has been opened. Therefore, we are moving at a good pace. I very much hope that by the end of the year we will start talking about starting negotiations on full membership," the chairman said.