As 2023 became 2024, Ukraine realised it was going through a tough time in terms of foreign policy.

The world understood that the war was going to last long, and the "shock" of 2022 in relations with Ukraine was evolving.

Another change concerns the taboo on political criticism of Kyiv, which will come to an end in 2024. Unfortunately, Ukraine’s parliamentary leadership sometimes does things that make the situation worse.

That silence is likely to end in 2024, and Ukraine's actions are bringing this moment closer. Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, in violation of parliamentary principles, has unilaterally restricted the international activities of other Members of Parliament (MPs) and political parties, including the opposition.

Read more in the article by Sergiy Sydorenko, European Pravda's editor – Outrage Sparked in Ukraine by Parliament Speaker's Efforts to Sabotage Opposition Internationally.

January brought good news for Ukraine in PACE, with a preliminary decision from the Conservative Group that Ukrainian MP Oleksii Honcharenko is to become the chairman of the Committee on Migration and Refugees according to the conservatives' quota.

The committee’s chairman gains an influential international platform, becomes part of the PACE Bureau, and influences the planning of decision-making for the assembly as a whole. This is a significant political asset for Ukraine, especially considering the importance of issues related to Ukrainian refugees.

Ukraine already holds two leading committee positions and, with three votes in the Bureau, will open new horizons for advancing its interests. Additionally, it ensures a stable presence in the Bureau when the current heads of Ukrainian committees (Yevheniia Kravchuk and Maria Mezentseva) step down due to the rotation principle strictly followed in PACE.

An interim resolution will come very soon. In a few days, the Speaker is expected to provide Strasbourg with a list of the members of the Ukrainian delegation who will be participating in the winter session from 22 January. If Honcharenko is not among them, it will create serious problems for Ukraine. If he is, problems will still arise, but they will arise later.

The actions of the government representatives in the Verkhovna Rada until yesterday indicated the intention to exclude Honcharenko from the composition of the Ukrainian delegation to the assembly.

Given the recent scandals this issue has attracted considerable media attention. Especially since there have been several issues with order No. 1367, including the requirement for MPs to receive "Foreign Ministry-approved talking points and comments for MPs regarding the implementation of foreign policy" before any trip abroad.

At the same time, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (who is not, in fact, the "leader" of MPs according to the constitution and does not have the right to impose such requirements and restrictions) signed order No. 1366, which poses no less of a threat to Ukraine.

Because of Stefanchuk's decision, Ukraine has become the first and only country in Europe where parties are now deprived of the right to independently choose their representatives. The Speaker's decisions mean that candidates, including those from the opposition, can also be proposed by committees where the majority is from the ruling party. This is to provide the speaker with a broad list of opposition representatives from which he can choose the most loyal ones to participate in events abroad. Nonsense!

Another absurd provision states that "a Ukrainian MP can only be part of one permanent delegation".

The last major problem is that Stefanchuk has granted himself the right to independently make decisions "on the premature exclusion [of any MP]... from the permanent delegation in the event of action or inaction by him/her that poses a threat to the national interests of Ukraine or discredits the Verkhovna Rada". The person who judges whether there has been any "discrediting of the Verkhovna Rada" is expected to be – you guessed it – Ruslan Stefanchuk.

In essence, the Speaker has introduced the right of unilateral control over the opposition’s international activities and the right to punish opposition MPs for criticising the government. This is unacceptable. It’s what dictatorships do, not democracies.

The arbitrary restriction on MPs' foreign trips by the Verkhovna Rada’s leadership has already exhausted the patience of Ukraine's Western partners. 

Moreover, during 2024, this story will officially become a subject of investigation at the PACE level.

This will signify the official lifting of Europe’s taboo on criticising Kyiv and actions that, frankly, are manifestations of political censorship and obstruction of the opposition.