You're reading: Ukrainian lawmakers, members of European Parliament endorse recommendations for Rada reform

Members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the European Parliament have endorsed the recommendations of the report of the needs assessment mission of the European Parliament, which contains a roadmap of the reform and transformation of the Ukrainian Parliament, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz said in a joint statement.

Groysman and Schulz issued a joint statement on the results of a meeting of leaders of factions of the Verkhovna Rada and the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, March 1, the Ukrainian parliament’s press service reported.

“During today’s unprecedented joint political group leaders’ meeting of both parliaments, we endorsed the recommendations of the report of the Needs Assessment Mission led by former EP President Pat Cox, which provides an ambitious roadmap for the reform and the transformation of the Ukrainian parliament. The report contains concrete suggestions on improving the quality of its legislative process, its efficiency and transparency, and represents a joint ownership of all the factions and groups of the Verkhovna Rada,” the joint statement reads.

“We have also expressed our joint commitment for the implementation of systemic reforms in Ukraine, underlined our unwavering support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and have stressed the importance of national unity and political consensus of all political forces in Ukraine in this difficult political period. We hope that the reform process of the Verkhovna Rada will unite the majority and the opposition for the common goal of increasing the credibility of the Parliament in the eyes of the society and turning it into a genuine backbone of Ukrainian democracy,” the two officials said.