European commissioner Kos on meeting with representatives of national minorities: no one expressed concerns about protection of rights
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has completed a three-day visit to Ukraine, during which she attended 25 events, including a meeting with the Council of Public Associations of National Minorities.
Kos spoke about her impressions of the visit and meetings in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to the European Commissioner, on the first day of the visit she visited the Zakarpattia region, where she met with representatives of national minorities, in particular, the Hungarian community. The European Commissioner also took part in an enlarged meeting of the Council of Public Associations of National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine.
According to the European Commissioner, none of the 20 communities represented in the Council, including the Hungarian one, expressed concerns about the protection of their rights. Instead, they all demonstrated a clear pro-European position. "This is an extremely encouraging signal," Kos noted.
On the second day of her visit, she was in Lviv, where she paid tribute to the fallen Ukrainian soldiers at the local cemetery and to the Slovenian soldiers who died during the First World War. The Commissioner also visited the Unbroken Centre, where she got acquainted with the medical care and rehabilitation programmes, and met with war veterans living in EU-funded housing.
In Kyiv, Marta Kos held a number of important meetings with representatives of the Ukrainian authorities. In particular, she discussed with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk and representatives of political parties, including the opposition, the progress in fulfilling Ukraine’s obligations regarding screening and implementing reforms.
Separately, the Commissioner raised the issue of ensuring the independence of anti-corruption institutions, having spoken to the teams of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). "Their work is crucial, and I wanted to express my support to them," she stressed.
In addition, Kos met with civil society leaders and spoke at Ukrainian Resilience Week in Lviv, where she discussed the importance of decentralization with 150 local officials. In total, she attended 25 events over three days, which highlighted the intensity of the visit.
"We also discussed how to move forward in the absence of unanimous support from all 27 EU member states," the European Commissioner said, stressing the importance of continuing reforms and dialogue.
As reported, the Council of Public Associations of National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine adopted a statement following the meeting, expressing support for Ukraine’s European integration aspirations and calling for increased public dialogue to strengthen mutual understanding between communities.