The presidents of the Nordic and Baltic parliaments had a series of meetings in the Verkhovna Rada – the Ukraine Parliament – on Monday 16^th March.

Positive and constructive

“The meetings have been both positive and constructive. The Nordic-Baltic initiative has been well received. This means that we are ready to take our collaboration further by turning this initiative into something more tangible,” summed up President of the Storting Olemic Thommessen.

Among the parliamentarians the group met was Anna Gopko, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee. She thanked the visiting delegation for its support and added the following words: “The support from the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) is vital for Ukraine in this phase of our extensive reform programme. After 23 years we are finally starting to build a political nation.”

The presidents of parliament also met Volodymyr Groysman, President of the Ukraine Parliament, along with several of the vice presidents. Mr Groysman underlined how important the support from the NB8 is:

“We hugely appreciate the support and the visit, and the fact that you have initiated such an action rather than simply words. This visit confirms to me that we are not alone in our struggle,” he said.

Most important among the issues singled out by Mr Groysman was corruption and the challenge of building up a strong, decentralized structure.

Several parliamentarians also mentioned party funding and how to enable the Rada to function efficiently and smoothly.

Plenty of new parliamentarians

“This autumn we hope to invite a delegation of Ukrainian parliamentarians to the Storting. Among the issues we would like to discuss is how to create sound working procedures in parliament, such as good legislative procedures,” said Mr Thommessen.

“Many of the parliamentarians – almost 60 per cent – are new. They have indicated that they are in need of input from established democracies. We’ve been impressed by how they’ve coped with the situation they’ve found themselves in; the conflict with Russia, major economic reforms, as well as being in the middle of an enormous reform programme,” he added.

The Nordic and Baltic presidents of parliament also met leaders of the opposition, a representative from the ombudsman’s office, and heads of some of the political factions, including Yulia Tymoshenko.

“Europe has no use for a crisis in Ukraine. This is why we as presidents of parliament must do all we can through the channels of parliamentary collaboration,” says Mr Thommessen.