Members of Ternopil regional council have approved an address to the European Parliament to review its resolution of February 25 on the situation in Ukraine and cancel clause 20, which suggests the Ukrainian authorities to review the decree on awarding Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the title of Hero of Ukraine.
Ternopil regional council of the fifth convocation approved its address to the European Parliament at its 13th session on Mar. 3.
"Ternopil regional council expresses its indignation about the resolution on the situation in Ukraine adopted by the European Parliament on February 25, 2010, where in clause 20 the European Parliament ‘deplores former Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko’s decision to posthumously award Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the title of Hero of Ukraine, [and] hopes ‘the new Ukrainian leadership will reconsider such decisions and will maintain its commitment to European values,’" reads the address of the council, posted on its official Web site.
The report says, "clause 20 of the resolution of the European Parliament has signs of a purely political nature, and has nothing in common with human values… and doesn’t reflect the realities of history, as well as being a display of crude disregard to the Ukrainian nation and direct interference in the domestic affairs of our state."
The session decided to send this address and a biographical note about Bandera to the European Parliament, Ukraine’s president, the Verkhovna Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers and regional councils.
As reported, the European Parliament, in its resolution passed on February 25, said that it "deeply deplores the decision by the outgoing President of Ukraine, Victor Yushchenko, to posthumously award Stepan Bandera, a leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which collaborated with Nazi Germany, the title of ‘National Hero of Ukraine.’"
In this regard, the European Parliament expressed hope that "the new Ukrainian leadership will reconsider such decisions and will maintain its commitment to European values."
Ivano-Frankivsk regional council on Mar. 3 had already called on the European Parliament to review clause 20 of its resolution on the situation in Ukraine regarding the awarding Stepan Bandera the title of Hero of Ukraine.
Former Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko conferred the rank of Hero of Ukraine to Bandera on Jan. 22, 2010.
