The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine considers the adoption of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution No.1755 of 5 October “The Functioning of Democratic Institutions in Ukraine” as an important contribution to the implementation of the European integration course of our country. Ukraine seeks to achieve high standards of European democracy and appreciates the support and advice of the Council of Europe, the most authoritative international organization in the field.

The latest PACE Resolution welcomes the emergence of political stability in Ukraine, resulting from last February’s fair and transparent presidential elections, and the consolidation of power as a necessary condition for democratic and economic reforms. It is important to note that the parliamentarians of all 47 Member States of the Council of Europe unequivocally rejected the attempts of certain political forces to misinterpret the logic of domestic processes in Ukraine. As a result, after a thorough monitoring the Assembly recognized that those processes comply with the standards of democratic governance. The deliberations of the resolution that took place on the very day of its adoption involved representatives of various Ukrainian parliamentary parties and confirmed the existence of dynamic and competitive democracy that provides opportunities to work effectively for both, the government and the opposition.

PACE warmly welcomed reiteration of the commitment to ensure prompt implementation of all obligations before the Council of Europe by the new leadership of Ukraine, the observance of which in the past was ignored by those political forces that now seek to prevent the removal of our State from CE monitoring regime. In particular, the announcement by the President of Ukraine of his intention to launch the process of improving the constitutional system of the State aims at implementation of full set of obligations before the Council of Europe. Ukraine will closely cooperate with the Venice Commission on its way to reaching this goal. To this end, the Minister for Foreign Affairs met with the President of the Commission on the day of the adoption of the Resolution No.1755 and invited him to visit Kyiv at his earliest convenience.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also believes that some comments on the shortcomings in the functioning of democratic institutions and recommendations on the ways to address them, reflected in the Resolution, will assist the President, the Government and the ruling coalition to effectively develop and implement policies aimed at achieving European standards. In this context, Ukraine intends to work closely with the Monitoring Committee and all institutions of the Council of Europe.