European Solidarity faction in Ukrainian parliament wants to know how minerals deal to help end war – MP Gerashchenko
Following the conciliation council, European Solidarity is demanding a meeting with members of the negotiating team on the minerals agreement, said Iryna Gerashchenko, co-chair of the parliamentary faction.
"The conciliation council on the minerals agreement has just concluded. Together with Artur Herasymov, we outlined European Solidarity's position. We are insisting on a meeting between the factions and President Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Shmyhal, and the members of the negotiating team, and on briefing MPs on the details of the investment fund charter that is to be established, as well as on the limited partnership agreement," she wrote on Facebook.
According to Gerashchenko, they also want answers on how the ratification of the agreement will contribute to ending the war and achieving a just peace – and why neither Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal nor the President signed the document.
"We support a strategic and mutually beneficial partnership with the United States and informed, deliberate voting," Gerashchenko said.
She noted that the signatory of the agreement is Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko, who, along with other officials, will meet with all parliamentary factions. "Faction leaders also backed European Solidarity's call for an open discussion of the agreement at a session of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, which will be held tomorrow, May 6," she added.
"I do not rule out that, alongside the agreement, the Verkhovna Rada may also adopt a resolution with specific reservations regarding Ukraine's international legal obligations in the context of the documents under discussion," Gerashchenko concluded.
As reported, the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs is the lead body responsible for preparing bill No. 0309 – on the ratification of the agreement between the governments of Ukraine and the United States on the creation of a U.S.-Ukrainian investment fund – for consideration at a plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada.