Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

The Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the EU held a meeting with MPs from the Netherlands. The delegation included representatives of the committees on Foreign Affairs and European Affairs of the Netherlands.

Ukrainian Committee members thanked their Dutch colleagues for military, humanitarian and financial support, as well as for their visit to Ukraine. “We are very grateful that you support Ukraine at home, but also find time to come to us personally. This is very important, because you can see what happens here and how the situation in Ukraine is changing,” said the Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. She noted that Ukraine very much hopes for the continuation and strengthening of assistance from the Netherlands, especially given the delay of support from the United States. She emphasised that Ukraine urgently needs additional means of air defence, because in recent weeks Russia has been shelling Ukrainian cities and villages with great intensity, killing civilians and destroying the energy infrastructure. Ukraine needs means of anti-aircraft defence that can stop Russian aviation, which invades the territory of Ukraine. At the same time, despite the daily struggle for survival, according to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine continues to work and implement necessary transformations on the way to European integration. The Chair of the Committee emphasised that Ukraine has been developing progress on the way to the EU not for the last two years, but for the last 10 years, since the Association Agreement with the EU had been signed. She also believes that it is important for the European Union to closely monitor Ukraine's performance of its homework, which is necessary for joining the EU. “This magnifying glass, under which Ukraine is now, will help us to perform our tasks better, from the first try, so that we do not have to redo them,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. She also added that it is important that Ukraine and other candidate countries do not become hostages of internal reforms in the European Union. The process of their accession should take place in parallel, and not depend on internal reforms in the EU.

The first deputy Chairman of the Committee, Vadym Halaichuk, highlighted the steps that Ukraine should take in the process of its European integration. He also expressed hope that the admission process will be slightly changed and divided into phases. This would mean that candidate states would receive certain benefits from accession not after completion of the entire set of tasks but after each stage. This would make it possible to resolve many difficult situations in the accession process, such as protests of Polish farmers at the border with Ukraine.

Secretary of the Committee Vadym Nalyvaichenko thanked the Netherlands for holding the ministerial conference Restoring Justice for Ukraine in The Hague. He is convinced that it will help bring Russia to justice.

It was the first foreign visit for the Dutch parliamentary delegation in this composition after the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands last November. Members of the delegation assured that their Parliament has broad support for Ukraine and is ready to increase assistance, in particular through the participation in the F-16 coalition, and the supply of air defence equipment to Ukraine.