All three candidates for top PACE post vow support for Ukraine
On Monday, the three candidates for this position - Swiss Alain Berset, Estonian Indrek Saar, and Belgian Didier Reynders – are in final negotiations with delegations, Ukrainian deputies in PACE told an Ukrinform correspondent.
"Tensions are very high, I am talking to other delegations, and right now all three candidates are fighting for every vote," said Ukraine’s delegate Yevhenia Kravchuk.
According to the MP, it was important for the Ukrainian delegation to ensure that each of these three came to Ukraine and promised that the Ukrainian issue would be a priority for them.
"In particular, we were interested in continuing work on the Register of Losses, in launching the entire compensation mechanism, and also on further establishing the Special Tribunal for the Russian crime of aggression," she detailed.
According to another Ukrainian MP, Oleksiy Honcharenko, "in order to really influence the decision, we need to be as united as possible on the issue. Although legally we are all independent delegates, that's why everyone will vote as they see fit," Honcharenko clarified.
He believes that all the candidates were "emphatically pro-Ukrainian", so the Ukrainian delegation is ready to cooperate with whoever is elected.
Tomorrow, during the PACE summer session, the general secretary of the assembly will be elected for the next five years. Among the three finalists are Alain Berset, former President of Switzerland, Indrek Saar, former Minister of Culture of Estonia, and Belgian Didier Reynders, current EU Commissioner for Justice. The elections will be held in two rounds. If none of the contenders seals 50 percent plus one vote in the first round, the winner will be determined in the runoff. Then one of the two finalists will also need to win a simple majority of votes.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is set to adopt a resolution that will enshrine the decision of the inaugural Peace Summit held in Switzerland on June 15-16, according to a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE, Yevhenia Kravchuk.
