Authorities prevented Poroshenko and ES MPs from attending US Republican Party convention - ES statement
The authorities disrupted the trip of the European Solidarity delegation led by Petro Poroshenko to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, USA.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the ES press service.
"While the world's attention is focused on the dramatic events in the United States, the Ukrainian authorities have quietly blocked the trip of the European Solidarity delegation led by Petro Poroshenko to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Republicans and representatives of more than fifty centre-right political forces from around the world will gather tomorrow," the statement reads.
It is noted that the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada was informed of the invitation several months ago - more than in advance. "But they never gave permission to leave, looking back at the President's Office in fear. The last chance to leave expired on Sunday at 2pm."
"We have always fought for bipartisan support in the US and we believe that the government has taken an anti-state step out of petty politics. Instead of using our connections in both US political parties in the interests of Ukraine, they blocked the visit and damaged these interests. It is worth noting that we had planned meetings with representatives of the Democratic Party under a separate programme. However, the future of American support for Ukraine in the coming years will largely depend, among other things, on the position of the Republicans, our partner party, which already has a majority in the House of Representatives and is seeking the White House. The last thing we would want is for the scandal provoked by the Ukrainian authorities to affect this future," the press service said.
At the event, the ES delegation was to meet with the delegation of the International Democratic Union with the US presidential and vice-presidential candidates (Trump).
The statement emphasises that instead of seizing the opportunity to build capacity for future support of our fight against the aggressor, the Ukrainian government is once again choosing the path of toxicity and conflict in its relations with the Trump team, as it did in 2020.
It also reminds us that last autumn, Bankova did not allow Poroshenko to meet with the Republicans, which lost at least some chance of unblocking American aid more quickly, and then, at the cost of enormous human losses, he had to wait another six months.
"And today, the government is making another mistake, spitting on parliamentary pluralism and European standards of interparliamentary diplomacy. This is a blow to internal unity, first of all. The government sees it not as a dialogue, but as authoritarian arbitrariness. Secondly, the disruption of the visit demonstrates the existence of systemic problems with democracy in Ukraine. It is its preservation that is named as a precondition for our accession to both the EU and NATO in numerous resolutions of these organisations. This problem arose a long time ago. We have been restraining ourselves in our assessments. First, to avoid harming the decision to start negotiations on EU membership, and then to avoid harming Ukraine's position at the NATO summit, which unfortunately did not prevent the authorities from receiving an invitation to walk across the bridge instead of an invitation to join," the statement said.
European Solidarity believes that "it is time to recognise the depth and seriousness of the problems with democracy in Ukraine".
"While the army is fighting Russia outside, there are people who are trying to build a political system inside Ukraine based on the Russian model. And in some ways, they are even ahead of it. Putin has just this week signed a law banning MPs from travelling abroad without permission. We have had this rule in place for several years! The problems with democracy have a name. The cowardly leadership of the Verkhovna Rada blocked Poroshenko's trip to the United States on the direct orders of the chief clerk of the presidential office, who considers himself the managing director not only of the parliament but of the entire country, probably even of the president," the party said in its statement.
The MEPs will inform Ukraine's partners in the US, EU and NATO about this situation, "because only a democratic country can apply for membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance, as repeatedly stressed in the resolutions of these respected international institutions, which the Ukrainian authorities are neglecting".
"Even more importantly, we will intensify dialogue with society about threats to democracy and the abuse of martial law by the authorities to pursue their own vested interests. Otherwise, the negative trends will become irreversible, and metastases of Russian authoritarianism will grow inside Ukraine. We must not allow this to happen," the statement reads.
