The Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine) has extended martial law in Ukraine for another 30 days, that is, until May 25, 2022, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (the Holos faction) has said.
“Parliament met again today and adopted… We voted on a number of important decisions,” Zhelezniak said on his Telegram channel on Thursday.
According to him, the extension of the martial law in Ukraine is stipulated in bill No. 7300 on approval of the presidential decree on extension of the martial law in Ukraine, for which 300 MPs voted.
The Verkhovna Rada adopted bill No. 7232 as a basis, which provides for the application of a coefficient of 1.5 to the rates of corporate income tax, environmental tax, rent and property tax for companies that refused to leave the Russian market. 309 people’s deputies voted for the corresponding bill in the first reading on Friday, with the required 226 votes, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, deputy head of the committee on finance, tax and customs policy, said on his Telegram channel.
President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola said that the European Union should give Ukraine hope for a European perspective.
“Ukraine, more than ever before, now looks to the European Union as its destination. We must respond with honesty but also with the hope that they desperately need. Of course, every country must have its own path, which can be a complex one, but the European future of Ukraine should not be in doubt,” the head of the European Parliament said, speaking on Thursday at the European Council summit in Brussels.
“We must be ready, but more importantly we must be willing to do what is necessary to provide a future without fear for those arriving at our borders,” Metsola said.
According to her, the EU has an obligation to play a leading role in organizing these efforts.
“The face of Europe we must show must be one of open hearts and open homes,” the head of the European Parliament said.
As of Wednesday, 26 MPs are abroad, about ten of them are members of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the rest are members of the Opposition Platform – For Life faction, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk has said.
“As of this morning, according to the information I have, 26 MPs are abroad. But I must emphasize that about ten of them are the women deputies who were sent by me to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in order for them to defend the decision that PACE made yesterday regarding the exclusion of Russia from the Assembly,” the speaker said on the air of the 1+1 TV channel.
At the same time, he stressed that members of the Opposition Platform – For Life faction are now mostly not on working trips abroad.
“The reasons for their departure are not known. I didn’t send them on a working trip. But they are there. As for the future, they should be given political responsibility by the Ukrainian people in the next elections. But I think that it will not be limited to this either, because those who committed crimes against the Ukrainian people, who were collaborators, committed high treason, in addition to political responsibility, they will definitely incur criminal liability,” Stefanchuk specified.
The Moldovan parliament has declared a 60-day state of emergency over the gas crisis.
The decision has been made at the government’s proposal, an Interfax correspondent said in a report. It was supported by 58 deputies from the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (out of 101 parliament members).
The opposition denied support to the government proposal.
The Verkhovna Rada intends to simplify the procedure for granting citizenship to foreigners who protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The adoption of the relevant bill No. 5630 at the first reading was supported by 302 MPs at an extraordinary plenary session on Tuesday.
The bill proposes to simplify the procedure for obtaining Ukrainian citizenship by citizens of a state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as an aggressor or occupier who have been persecuted for political reasons, by foreigners and stateless persons who are doing military service under contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and are also directly involved in measures to ensure national security and defense of Ukraine, the containment of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In addition, the final and transitional provisions of the draft law provide for the possibility of submitting a declaration of renunciation of foreign citizenship by persons who received Ukrainian citizenship before the entry into force of this draft law.
