First Deputy Chairman of Verkhovna Rada accuses Members of the European Parliament of having 'double standards'
The European Parliament has decided to limit the official MEP visit program to Kyiv, Ukraine due to the security situation in the Donbas, as was written by the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), Iryna Herashchenko, on her Facebook page. According to her, the visits by MEPs — members of the Parliamentary Association Committee — have been scheduled since May. The MEPs themselves have expressed a desire to visit not only Kyiv but also the Donbas region.
"The President of the European Parliament and all the heads of the political groups and factions (the conference leaders of the European Parliament headed by the President of the EP) discussed the forthcoming visit of a delegation of deputies to Ukraine and decided to limit the official program to include only Kyiv due to the security situation," Herashchenko wrote.
However, she drew attention to the fact that recently, European politicians have been increasingly discussing the need for elections in the Donbas region, while at the same time the situation in the region is unsafe.
"We have big issues with our European colleagues: how do you insist on elections in the areas where your employees feel to be too dangerous to visit, even for only an hour? And how will the observers be there? I’m not even talking about the security of the polling stations... Obviously, this is a double standard and we will talk about it at every international meeting," Herashchenko said. It was reported that three MEPs decided to go to the Donbas region.