The Verkhovna Rada's Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy completed work on 2.5 thousand amendments to the draft law "On Media" and recommended its adoption in the second reading.

"The review, which lasted for five sessions, has been completed. We expect that soon the draft law will be put to the vote in the parliament," Taras Shevchenko, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, reports about this on Facebook.

According to him, the new draft law gives more powers to the National Council in television and radio broadcasting matters. However, its opponents critisise it.

"The media reform itself is one of our obligations to the EU. A guarantee that we can start our accession negotiations as soon as possible. The European Union made it clear that there should be an independent and effective media regulator in Ukraine," Shevchenko wrote.

The opposition stated they were against the regulation of online outlets and not ready to vote on the draft law in its current version.

"The authors of the Ukrainian law consider regulation of online media, which the EU (and the directive) does not require from Ukraine. Not just regulation, but the possibility of blocking an online outlet without a court decision, only by decision of the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting," Viktoria Siumar, "European Solidarity" MP, wrote on her Facebook page.

To start EU accession negotiations, Ukraine must fulfill "Seven requirements" - a set of criteria defined by the European Commission. Currently, the fulfillment of the criterion related to the media sphere remains at 6 points out of 10.

Read more Ukraine Failing Its Own Strategy To Meet EU Requirements Swiftly.