UKROP faction of Lviv city council initiated an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with a demand to cancel the amendment to the Law on State Budget of Ukraine for 2016 to postpone the introduction of the electronic system of income and asset declaration of public officials until 2017. This provision of the law is contrary to the requirements for introducing visa-free regime with the European Union in 2016. The statement was read out to the MPs by URKOP faction member Ivan Grinda during a meeting of city council on February 4.
“We, the deputies of the Lviv city council, call on the MPs of Ukraine to take care about the European future of our state not only in words but through real actions, and vote for the amendments to the State Budget of Ukraine for 2016 regarding financial control requirements aimed at prevention of corruption and the implementation of an important requirement of the IMF and the EU in the framework of the visa liberalization,” the statement says.
UKROP members on Lviv called on parliamentarians to support the draft law “On amendments to some laws of Ukraine concerning the financial control requirements in order to prevent corruption” previously registered in the Verkhovna Rada, which envisages to launch a new system of asset declaration for public officials this year and fix an annoying error in the state budget this year.
The authors of the appeal refer to the position of Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Ian Tombinski, according to whom the EU may go back on the introduction of a visa-free regime with Ukraine if the scandalous amendment is not canceled.
Now the appeal is being finalized. Soon the UKROP’s faction will submit this document to Lviv city council’s approval.
As previously reported, on January 4, after the adoption of the law on state budget for 2016 by the Verkhovna Rada, an amendment suddenly appeared in its final version, according to which the introduction of the electronic declaration of income and assets of public officials should be postponed until 2017. The introduction of the appropriate financial control mechanism is one of the requirements for Ukraine visa-free regime with the countries of the Schengen Agreement.
