Members of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU took part in the 69th plenary meeting of COSAC

The Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze and the First Deputy Chair of the Committee Vadym Halaychuk took part in the 69th plenary session of COSAC — The Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union and the candidate states.

“The plenary session discussed the results of Sweden's presidency of the Council of the European Union and the future steps. Particular attention was paid to the development of the single market within the EU,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. “We are grateful to the Swedish presidency of the EU Council for raising the question of supporting Ukraine in the war waged by Russia against Ukraine and the entire free world. Moreover, 97% of the population of Sweden support Ukrainians and the aid provided. We believe that such public support of the actions of the government and authorities could be an example for other countries”, said the Chair of the Committee.

She also noted that the Ukrainian delegation on the COSAC platform, in addition to participating in the plenary session, hold important bilateral meetings: “Although our bilateral negotiations are based on support of our partners in various countries, each delegation has its special nuances and accents, which we try to address.”

In particular, with Switzerland, according to the Chair of the Committee, there is still an issue of re-exporting weapons produced with the participation of Switzerland, so that Ukraine has more tools to protect its civilian population and the Defence Forces of Ukraine can be more successful. “Unfortunately, this issue has not yet been resolved, although there is growing support in the Swiss parliament for adopting a specific decision on the re-export of weapons by other countries to Ukraine,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.

The Ukrainian delegation also discussed the expectations from the European Commission's verbal assessment with all EU member states. “I hope this will give an understanding of how we need to complete the fulfilment of the seven conditions that accompanied the candidacy decision. We hope for the opening of negotiations on membership in the EU by the end of this year,” said the Chair of the Committee.

First Deputy Chairman of the Committee Vadim Halaychuk, who is the co-Chair of the Crimean Platform in the Parliament, emphasised that Crimea is not different in any way from other territories of Ukraine, which were occupied and annexed by the Russian Federation. Therefore, the restoration of its sovereignty and full control over the entire internationally recognised territory of Ukraine are extremely important.

The Ukrainian delegation also discussed expectations from the Vilnius summit with the countries which are both EU and NATO member states. “We emphasise that a decision on moving to another level of relations with the North Atlantic Alliance is needed. Because without Ukraine's membership in NATO, there would not be sustainable peace on the European continent,” concluded Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.