Page 18 - UKRRptMar19

2.6 Politics - misc
Ukraine’s incumbent President Petro Poroshenko announced his candidature for president in the elections slated for March 31 at a press conference on January 29. "I have decided to run in the election once again," the incumbent said, addressing a forum dubbed "From Kruty to Brussels. We Follow Our Own Path," reports Tass. "I would like to ask voters for a mandate to ensure the irreversibility of the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration, and our independence, as well as to restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity, bring back peace, complete the construction of a strong state capable of providing prosperity to every Ukrainian," Poroshenko said. The president still has a lot of heavy lifting to do as he is currently trailing in fourth place with 8%
in the most recent polls , 12 points behind opposition leader Yulia
Tymoshenko with 20%. Poroshenko’s first task will be to simply beat independent candidate comedian Vladimir Zelenskiy and head of the Opposition Bloc Yuriy Boyko (aka Boiko) to make it to a second round vote scheduled for April.
Ukrainian Constitutional Court has cancelled criminal responsibility for illicit enrichment , Ukrainska Pravda online outlet reported on February 26 quoting four separate unnamed sources. The court believes that criminal responsibility for such wrongdoing violates the presumption of innocence. The parliament passed the law in 2015 as one of the conditions for Ukraine to receive a visa-free regime with the European Union and to continue its cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). NIxing the law endangers both the IMF deal and the EU visa-free regime. Both Poroshenko and Tymoshenko immediately submitted bills to re-criminalise graft the next day.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was hit by a weapons smuggling scandal during the outgoing election campaign. The president was accused by ex-MP Yulia Tymoshenko and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy of "state treason" and "profit on blood" amid media reports that Poroshenko's associates allegedly illegally profited from the war in Donbas.
Ukraine is going to secure the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) by 2023 , the nation's President Petro Poroshenko told a special session of the nation's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on February 19. The president also added that Kyiv will seek membership in the European Union (EU). "I believe my strategic mission is to ensure the irreversibility of European and Euro-Atlantic integration," Poroshenko's media office quoted him as saying. On February 7, the Verkhovna Rada, greenlighted in the final readings the amendments to the nation’s constitution regarding the strategic course of the state to secure Ukraine’s full membership in the EU and NATO. The Rada also appealed to the NATO member states to support Ukraine's intentions to become members of the military alliance and to begin a formal dialogue at the NATO summit in London in December on the provision of an action plan on alliance membership. In 2018, NATO granted Ukraine the status of an aspirant country earlier this year, which means that Kyiv has officially declared its aspiration to join the military alliance. The alliance provided Ukraine with the status of an aspirant country after a significant delay - over the past years the Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly stated that the country's accession to the military alliance remains a strategic goal for the national leadership.
18 UKRAINE Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com