Poroshenko signs changes to Constitution on Ukraine’s EU and NATO aspirations
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a law that consolidates in the Constitution the mandate of the Verkhovna Rada, the president, and the Cabinet of Ministers to implement Ukraine’s strategic course towards acquiring full-fledged membership in the EU and NATO. The changes also remove from the Constitution provisions that allow for a foreign state to rent military bases in Ukraine.
The president signed the law during a special parliamentary session dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the start of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.
Poroshenko observed that many local critics of the Ukrainian government have been swift to say that Ukraine’s hopes to join the EU and NATO will never be realized. “My friends, it will be accepted [into the EU], it will be [a NATO member],” the Ukrainian leader affirmed during his speech to parliament.
“I see my own strategic mission as to guarantee the irreversibility of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration. To submit an application for EU membership and to acquire a plan of action for NATO membership no later than 2023,” the president added.
The law will come into force the day after publication.
On 22 November last year, Ukrainian parliament voted in favor of including in the Constitution the country’s course towards acquiring full-fledged EU and NATO membership and excluding the possibility of renting military bases in Ukraine to foreign states.