You're reading: Poroshenko: European Parliament’s envoy Cox arrives in Ukraine

BRUSSELS – A special envoy of the European Parliament monitoring mission to Ukraine and former president of the Parliament, Pat Cox, has canceled all his plans and left for Kyiv, Ukrainian MP Petro Poroshenko said in Brussels on Thursday. 

“Yesterday, at nine o’clock, they decided that President Cox, having canceled all that he had on the table, would go to Ukraine. The way it was organized is the best proof of how important European integration (of Ukraine) is to Europeans,” he said.

Poroshenko, who is on a working visit in Brussels, said that Cox arrived in Ukraine on Thursday.

As reported, the European Parliament monitoring mission to Ukraine headed by Cox and former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski started monitoring the court proceedings involving former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on June 11, 2012 under an agreement between Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and European Parliament President Martin Schulz.

Their mandate was subsequently expanded to include the court proceedings involving former Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko and former Acting Defense Minister of Ukraine Valeriy Ivaschenko. Their work was suspended when parliamentary elections began in Ukraine and was then restarted.

Their latest visit to Ukraine was on February 4-5. They visited Tymoshenko at Kharkiv-based Central Clinical Hospital No. 5, and Lutsenko at Mena penal colony in Chernihiv region.