Strategy for Donbas to be presented in Bundestag

29.04.2019 13:45

Ukrinform

The faction of the Free Democratic Party in the Bundestag unanimously adopted a document, which outlines a new strategy regarding the situation in eastern Ukraine in twelve paragraphs.

As the Bild reports, this strategy will soon be submitted to the Bundestag for consideration.

“The election of a new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the German presidency of the UN Security Council are the key for giving new impetus to peace negotiations,” said Bundestag member Renata Alt, the initiator of the proposal.

She believes that the Bundestag should urge the federal government to draw up an additional action plan regarding the Minsk peace accords with mandatory deadlines and incentives for compliance and specific consequences in case of non-compliance. The authors of the proposals reproach that the meetings in the “Normandy format”, of which Germany and France are part, take place only at the working level.

As indicated in the document adopted by the Free Democratic Party faction, the federal government should, within the EU, create a “new or additional civilian police component of the UN mission that, first of all, will undertake sovereign tasks in cooperation with the local security agencies of Ukraine.”

It is also stated that existing missions - on surveillance, control over border and police mission, such as EUAM Ukraine, should be increased quantitatively, “so that the desired security sector reform is implemented on time, and security forces can have a deterrent effect against external aggression.”

In the UN Security Council, the German federal government should develop a peace plan that would provide for, apart from the UN temporary mission on Russia-Ukraine border, ensuring the withdrawal of all military units and weapons, dissolving of "governments" in self-proclaimed "people's republics."

According to the strategy authors, a civilian transitional administration under the leadership of the United Nations with a clear mandate should govern the territories and prepare free independent elections in the region.

They also emphasize that "now the federal government must act decisively and continue to provide Ukraine with full and active support." Chancellor’s support alone in words is not enough. “If the government is in a serious mood, it must recognize political realities and adopt our additional action plan to break a deadlock,” Alt emphasized.