Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

During the meeting, committee members heard the reports by Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva and Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran.

The Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU noted that this year Ukraine was not invited to take part in the NATO summit on June 14 in Brussels. Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanisyna said the summit was first scheduled for previous autumn. It provided for a broader format of engagement and work, but was postponed until the summer due to the resumption of the United States' role on the political chessboard and in NATO. As a result, the format of the summit was changed. “What I can confirm now is that it will be a closed summit, which does not involve any of the partners, it will be held in the format of one working session, and only those issues on which there is a consensus of the Allies will be submitted for consideration”, — the Deputy Prime Minister reported.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze asked why Ukraine had failed to appoint a Head of Ukraine's mission to NATO for two years. Defence Minister Andriy Taran said it was difficult to find a candidate who was an expert in the field and fluent in English. And the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba informed that such a specialist had finally been found and he was now undergoing security certification in the North Atlantic Alliance.

The Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU asked the rapporteurs about the government's strategy to counter the completion of the construction of the Russian Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Ukrainian authorities are working systematically with the United States and Germany on this issue, despite the recent decision of the United States not to impose sanctions against the company-operator of Nord Stream-2.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze also reminded of the importance of establishing a mechanism with the European Commission to harmonize Ukrainian legislation with the EU law. Despite the fact that Annex XXVII to the Association Agreement, which provides for consultations between Ukraine and the European Commission on all draft laws in the field of energy, was updated in 2019, such a mechanism has not yet been developed. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the European Commission is not ready to work systematically in this direction: “We have written several appeals at various levels to start fulfilling the European Commission's obligations to evaluate draft energy acts in accordance with Annex XXVII. The European Commission is not ready to take a systematic approach to this at the moment, so we have built a mechanism that provides for the approval of these draft acts by silent procedure”. The last round of talks on this issue, according to Olga Stefanishyna, was held during her visit to Brussels on May 18-21 this year.

The participants of the meeting noted that the consensus of European countries on further sanctions against Russia might be shaken. First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Interparliamentary Cooperation Hryhoriy Nemyria, in particular, recalled a statement by French President Emmanuel Macron last week. Macron said the principle of steadily tightening sanctions against Russia in response to “frozen” conflicts no longer worked. Olga Stefanishina noted that Russian propaganda was spreading strongly in the capitals of the European Union: “We see certain narratives that encourage some European politicians to do business as usual with the Russian Federation, but although there was such a statement by the French president, it demonstrates that sanctions mechanism must be constantly modified. We also said during our visit to Brussels that a strategy for Russia should be worked out, and today the European Parliament is working on it. The EU must work on a new enhanced mechanism of sanctions pressure, including restricting access to the SWIFT system and imposing sanctions on Putin's inner circle. Only a systematic approach to this issue can be effective”.

The Deputy Prime Minister also informed the participants that the Government planned to complete the first negotiations on the renewal of the trade part of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement before this year's summit, scheduled for October.