Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze: ‘We all maintain unity in order to be stronger’

She thanked everyone who contributed to the historic decision to grant Ukraine the candidate status for joining the EU. ‘I want to thank everyone who contributed to it – starting with our Defence Forces and ending with the civil society. The joint work of the civil society, the Parliament, the Government, and the President made the success possible. Now, according to the verbal assessment from the European Commission regarding the seven conditions, two conditions are deemed to have been fulfilled. Thus, we need to work on the other five,’ said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.

At the same time, she warned against unjustified populism around European and Euro-Atlantic integration. She urged to realistically evaluate the amount of work that needs to be done to fulfil the seven requirements of the EU and to work hard: ‘Some of these recommendations, in particular the recommendation related to the law on national minorities, will require our real joint public and non-public in-depth work. A lot depends on it. We understand that there is political will of our partners to support our movement. So, let's make the most of it, because we have a unique window of opportunity this year. But we also must do our homework".

The Chair of the Committee also stated that she is very concerned about certain trends in Ukraine today — decentralisation is collapsing, the powers of local authorities are being reduced, and there is an attack on freedom of speech under the guise of the need for informational unity. According to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, pluralism and development of political parties are integral parts of democracy. ‘Now, facing the dragon, it is important for us not to become a dragon ourselves. Today, our defenders not only stand guard over our territories, our cities, villages and people. They stand for principles. This war began when Ukrainian society finally said ‘no’ to autocracy and stated that its place is in the European world,’ said the Chair of the Committee. Therefore, in her opinion, the task of deputies, representatives of the Government and the civil society, who understand the value of democracy and the importance of principles, is to preserve them. ‘I want to hear your voice. We all hold together so we can be stronger. But let's be honest in those  concluded the Chair of the Committee.