European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday to preserve the independence of Ukrainian anti-corruption services and pledged to support Ukraine on its path to European Union membership, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"Ukraine has already achieved a lot on its European path. It must build on these solid foundations and preserve the independence of anti-corruption services, which are a cornerstone of the rule of law in Ukraine," Von der Leyen wrote on the social network "Ex" after a telephone conversation with Zelensky.
On Thursday, Zelensky approved a bill to restore the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption services.
"I thanked the European Commission for the expertise provided," the Ukrainian leader said on the social network "Ex" after yesterday's conversation with Von der Leyen.
"We share the same vision: it is important that the law is adopted immediately, possibly next week", Zelensky also said.
Von der Leyen promised to continue supporting Ukraine's European membership.
"Ukraine can count on our support to make progress on its European path", the President of the European Commission emphasized.
In a telephone conversation yesterday morning, French President Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the importance of the fight against corruption, led by independent and fully effective institutions, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a publication by Macron in "Ex".
Last week, Ukraine adopted a law that effectively removes the independence of two anti-corruption services, placing them under the direct management of the Prosecutor General, who in turn is subordinate to the Ukrainian president.
Ukraine's partners, including the EU, were quick to express their concern about the new legislation.
Taking into account the controversy and sharp criticism of the law by Ukrainian civil society, Zelensky announced on Thursday that he was proposing a new bill to guarantee the "independence" of Ukrainian anti-corruption structures. This measure was welcomed by Brussels.
Ukraine has proposed holding a top-level meeting with representatives of Russia. The new round should include the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, the United States and Turkey.However, the presence of only Donald Trump and Recep Erdogan during the negotiations with Vladimir Putin is not enough. European leaders should also be present there. The Ukrainian president commented on this during a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron. Zelensky announced this on his Telegram channel, Informator reports, quoted by FOKUS.
"We managed to agree on a new prisoner exchange. We are expecting a response to our proposal to hold a summit by the end of August. It must be attended by representatives of Europe," Zelensky said during the conversation with his French counterpart.
In addition, they discussed in detail Ukraine's path to European integration. They also agreed to work on finding solutions that would allow the opening of the first negotiation cluster in the nearest future.
"It is important that Ukraine and Moldova continue to move in sync. We also talked about the work of Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure, which is fully functioning," the Ukrainian head of state emphasized.
The two leaders also discussed the work of Ukraine's anti-corruption infrastructure, "which is fully functioning." Zelensky noted that his bill "guarantees the independence and effectiveness of anti-corruption bodies and prevents Russian influence on them."