The visit of the Ukrainian delegation to Brussels was held оn October 11-12th. As NordPresse reports, within the framework of the visit, numerous meetings with members of the European Parliament, and members of the European Commission took place. Generally, 40 people participated in the work of the delegation, namely People’s Deputies of Ukraine Yuri Odardechenko and Sergei Taruta, representatives of state and private enterprises of various branches, Volodymyr Blokhin (Imperial Tobacco Ukraine), Lyudmila Rozum (Ukrnaftoburiny), Yulia Sergeeva (lawyer, NGO “Transparent Choice”), Irina Kopanitsa (responsible for social projects and mentoring), Oharkov Yevgeniy (lawyer, public organization “All-Ukrainian Union of Lawyers « ), Anna Sviridenko (deputy of the Kyiv City Council), Timur Chmeruk (managing partner of « Base capital management ») and many others.

On October 11, a round table « European perspective of Ukraine » was held on the premises of the European Parliament, where members of the EP participated, among whom – Julie Ward (United Kingdom); Richard Charneski (Poland), and Jose Manuel Fernandes (Portugal). The round table discussed Ukraine’s prospects in the European Union, current political trends in Ukraine and the EU, problems and prospects of interaction between government, business, and the public in Ukraine, the topic of human rights and freedom of speech – some of the fundamental values for Ukraine and the European Union.

According to MEP Jose Manuel Fernandez, Ukraine and Europe may address many common problems. « The EU should review everything it can do for Ukraine, but I am also interested in what Ukraine could do for the EU. Of course, Ukraine is very much needed for Europe, because it shares the same European values. Thus, together we can solve the problem of energy self-sufficiency, which has been mentioned earlier. We just need to keep in mind the various projects that will help us become more energetically independent ».

In his speech, Yuri Odarchenko, People’s Deputy of Ukraine from the « Batkivshchyna » Party, said that today’s situation in the country is quite similar to « Morgenthau`s plan » after the Second World War. Virtually, Ukraine needs a kind of « Marshall Plan » to work in cooperation with the EU in order to rebuild Ukraine’s economy and really integrate it into a common European space.

Serhiy Taruta, the People’s Deputy of Ukraine, and the leader of the “Osnova” party, mentioned that Ukraine is facing some very serious challenges: armed conflict, economic recession, and high levels of migration. Under these conditions, a clear vision of the country’s future is extremely necessary. « Two years ago, I initiated the idea of establishing a strategy for the development of our country. In a year and a half, we created the Doctrine « Ukraine 2030″. We discussed the intellectual output at dozens of universities in Ukraine, the Bundestag, and many other major world venues. »

Representatives of Ukrainian businesses and the public noted the integral role of European institutions in building up a modern model of interaction as between business, government, and society. Timur Chmeruk, the managing partner of « Base Capital Management», expressed his confidence that the intellectual and entrepreneurial personnel of Ukraine can cooperate effectively with legislative and executive branches of power to resolve

issues in any field. However, at the same time, this work would be much more productive if there was support for European structures, in particular, the European Parliament.

Alexey Musatov, Executive Director of the National Transport League business, stressed that the « solution to the problem of public administration, its reform, is a » good «investment of the European Union in the Ukrainian future. European structures should support the following changes to the rules of the game.»