Ukraine Adopts EU-Recommended Reforms: Representatives of Ukraine’s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed on Wednesday that it had passed all necessary legislation to continue moving forward with plans to join the European Union, according to the Ukrainian parliament’s speaker. It follows requests from the European Union for Ukraine to take legislative action after the country was granted official candidate status in June of this year.
The decision proved controversial given the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine, though it remains unlikely that Ukraine will officially become a member state of the European Union until the conflict comes to an end.
Ukraine and EU: What Measures Were Passed?
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the People’s Deputy of Ukraine, confirmed in a Telegram post on Wednesday that Ukrainian legislators passed new reforms relating to the nation’s media industry. Other measures were also passed, including laws that govern a selection process for Constitutional Court judges, helping to prevent corruption – an accusation long made against Ukraine.
In his post, Zhelenznyak said that Ukraine will move ahead with plans to regulate the Rada television channel, which will now become state-owned. Ukraine will ensure that the channel broadcasts parliamentary meetings and, while the country is governed by martial law, it will also upload recordings of plenary sessions.
The news was also confirmed by parliamentary Speaker Rusland Stefanchuk in a statement, who confirmed that the Verkhovna Rada had “completed its part of the work and adopted all the necessary systemic bills to implement the recommendations of the European Commission.”
EU Countries Reach Agreement On Ukraine Aid
As Ukraine paves the way to potentially become a member state of the European Union, the European Council came to an agreement last week on a legislative package that will allow the EU to fund Ukraine financially through next year.
The package will allow €18 billion to be lent to Ukraine with a 10-year grace period. A statement from the European Council describes how member states will cover most of the interest costs.
“The aim is to provide short-term financial relief, financing Ukraine’s immediate needs, rehabilitation of critical infrastructure and initial support towards sustainable post-war reconstruction, with a view to supporting Ukraine on its path towards European integration,” the statement continues.
The agreement, which was reached on Saturday, circumvents a veto from Hungary which Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised to uphold. While Orban did not state that he was opposed to helping Ukraine, he did express opposition to plans to loan money to the country.
“The question is how to help Ukraine,” Orban told a state-run radio station.
“One proposal says that we should use the budgets of the EU member states to take out new loans together and use that money to give to Ukraine. We are not in favor of this because we do not want the European Union to become a community of indebted states instead of a community of cooperating member states.”
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor.
