European Parliament to open office in Kyiv − Euractiv

The European Parliament has agreed to open an office in Ukraine to strengthen its support for the Ukrainian parliament, following a request from senior Ukrainian government officials. Source: a European Parliament Bureau document seen by Euractiv, reported by European Pravda The decision, adopted on Monday evening, aims to facilitate ties with the Ukrainian parliament, particularly to establish contacts with the "relevant committees" of the European Parliament, as well as to facilitate administrative work.

The Bureau is the European Parliament body responsible for making administrative decisions on the internal functioning of the institution.

The European Parliament has a liaison office for each member state, which helps the Parliament to establish links with them, for example by communicating with stakeholders, organising events, and maintaining relations with local media. According to the document, there are only a few offices of the European Parliament in non-European cities, including New York, Addis Ababa, and Jakarta, "where Parliament staff is seconded to the EU Delegation". The EU delegation in each non-EU country is the EU's diplomatic representation in that territory, subordinated to the European External Action Service.

Notably, Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, has consistently supported Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Last year, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the Ukrainian people and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Reminder: European Council President Charles Michel has promised to do everything he can to ensure that Ukraine and Moldova receive a decision to start EU accession negotiations by the end of the year.

Enlargement will be a key issue at the EU summit scheduled to take place in Brussels on 14-15 December. In recent days, the EU has been sending signals that it may not support the start of accession talks with Ukraine during the December summit. It is said to be considering postponing this decision to March due to the lack of unity in the European Union.

Hungary has publicly promised to block any decision favourable to Kyiv.

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