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EU Commissioner to meet with representatives of Ukraine's authorities and opposition

KIEV, February 12, 1:23 /ITAR-TASS/. EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule is on his third visit to the Ukrainian capital. On Wednesday, he is expected to meet with the representatives of the authorities and the opposition of Ukraine to discuss efforts towards settling the political crisis in the country.

On the eve of the Eurocommissioner's arrival in Kiev, Ukrane's Foreign Ministry department for information policy came forward with a statement pointing out "the balanced, on the whole, and constructive position of the European Union on an estimate of the events in Ukraine and on a further development of relations between Ukraine and the EU on the basis of an all-round dialogue and interaction".

"We once again reaffirm Ukraine's invariable course towards Eurointegration through carrying out socio-political and socio-economic reforms with a view to drawing closer to European standards," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's statement points out. "Exceptionally important in this context are the steps being taken by the EU together with the international community and international financial institutions for the purpose of providing an appropriate support to Ukraine".

The Eurocommissioner's present visit to Ukraine is already a third one since the end of November last year. At that time, he visited Kiev prior to the adoption of a decision by the government of Ukraine on a suspension of the process of signing an agreement on association with the EU at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius. In the second half of January when the situation in Ukraine grew aggravated as a result of the actions of oppositional activists, the Czech diplomat met twice with the president of Ukraine. Jan Tombinski, head of the EU mission in Ukraine, took part during Fule's second meeting in discussing the situation.

In recent days, representatives of the authorities and the opposition of Ukraine have been busy fixing proposals on amending the Constitution.The activities of a working group, which was set up expressly for that, got stalled owing to differences in the opposition ranks.

Deputies from Batkivshchina seek drastically to curtail the powers of the president and suggest depriving the Head of State of the right to appoint Prosecutor-General, Chairman of the Security Service, and Chairman of the Antimonopoly Committee, and streamlining the procedure for an impeachment of the president. Such an impeachment may be initiated by 150 members of the Verkhovna Rada.

For their part, the members of the UDAR party (Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reforms) demand returning, to begin with, to Ukraine's Constitution of 2004, and say only that only after the process of refining the Fundamental Law may be started.

In line with the plan of work, approved last week, the Verkhovna Rada members this week are at work in committees and commissions. It is planned to hold the nearest plenary session on February 18. However, if the working group members reach a compromise, an extraordinary plenary meeting of the Verkhovna Rada may be convened in the coming days to consider a coordinated document.