Co-chair of European Solidarity in Rada insists on adoption of law that will allow MPs to be military
Co-chair of the European Solidarity parliamentary faction Iryna Gerashchenko called on the Verkhovna Rada to adopt at the second reading bill No. 7187, which allows deputies to participate in the defense of the state and was already supported at the first reading back in March 2022, the political force's website reported on Tuesday.
"I think many of our colleagues want to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the same way now, but we have majoritarians who cannot resign their mandates because we will make the parliament incompetent. Why do we not take into account the needs of martial law in the context of the right of deputies to serve the state as military personnel? We demand and appeal to the relevant committee to immediately prepare a bill for the second reading that allows deputies of Ukraine to participate in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Gerashchenko said speaking in parliament.
According to her, the European Solidarity faction will insist on the adoption of this bill.
The draft law, in particular, provides for amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On the status of an MP of Ukraine" and the regulations of the Verkhovna Rada, according to which, during the period of martial law, an MP may be accepted for military service under a contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and volunteer formations of territorial communities.
"The adoption of this law will strengthen effective counteraction to the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, strengthen the protection of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and will facilitate the implementation of the right of deputies of Ukraine to participate in the defense of Ukraine and repel enemy aggression," the explanatory note says.
As reported, investigative journalist, social activist and participant of the Revolution of Dignity, member of the Verkhovna Rada of the VIII convocation Tetiana Chornovil may become a deputy from European Solidarity instead of Andriy Parubiy, who was killed in Lviv on August 30.
Chornovil, born in 1979, is currently an active military servicewoman with the rank of officer, and has been participating in repelling Russian aggression since 2022. In the Verkhovna Rada of the previous convocation, she was a member of the parliamentary faction of the political party People's Front, as well as the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense, and before her parliamentary term, she was also a government commissioner for anti-corruption policy and an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
She participated in the parliamentary elections in 2019, running on the list of the European Solidarity party under No. 27. Currently, there are 27 deputies in the eponymous faction of the Verkhovna Rada, three of whom were elected in single-member constituencies in the 2019 parliamentary elections, and 24 in a multi-member nationwide constituency on the list. Under No. 25 and 26 are Volodymyr Viatrovych and Iryna Nykorak, who became deputies after the elections after the withdrawal of Iryna Lutsenko and Mykhailo Zabrodsky in 2019 and 2023, respectively.
On August 30, member of the Verkhovna Rada of the VI-IX convocations, head of the Verkhovna Rada in 2016-2019, member of the European Solidarity faction, Andriy Parubiy, was killed in Lviv. Thus, Chornovil can become a deputy of the Ukrainian parliament of the IX convocation. "Our respect and reverence for Andriy lies in one thing - in actions to protect the country. Our revenge is one - victory over the enemy," she said, without voicing her intentions to join the work in parliament.