Gezamenlijke verklaring Ashton en Füle over Oekraïense politieke situatie (en)

The Spokespersons of Catherine Ashton i, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, and Stefan Füle i, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, made today the following statement:

"The High Representative Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Stefan Füle are looking forward to the full implementation of the conclusions of the 25 February 2013 EU-Ukraine Summit, following closely the political developments in Ukraine. They are deeply concerned by recent legal proceedings leading to possible annulment of parliamentary mandates of two members of the Parliament on contested legal grounds. They also pay particular attention to the situation related to the case of MP Serhiy Vlasenko in the light of a recent petition to the High Administrative Court to possibly revoke his parliamentary mandate.

They call on the Ukrainian authorities to address this situation so as to avoid creating any perception of misuse of the judiciary for political purposes. They recall their strong view that the final composition of the Ukrainian Parliament must reflect the genuine will of the Ukrainian voters. The Law on the Election of People's Deputies establishes a clear, five-day time framework for the results of the elections to be challenged before the Courts. Legal proceedings which come months after the confirmation of the final election results raise political and legal concerns.

In light of these developments, they reiterate the need to take early steps to improve the electoral legislation of Ukraine as recommended by the OSCE/ODIHR final report of 3 January 2013, by giving consideration to an Election Code. "