Arakhamia: Expertise of law on UOC by Venice Commission needed to join EU

The head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arakhamia, has said that Ukraine needs the expertise of the draft law on banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Venice Commission in order to join the EU. He wrote this in a comment to the publication of the former Deputy Minister of Information Policy Dmytro Zolotukhin on Facebook.

David Arakhamia noted that he does not see any "betrayal" in the MPs’ initiative, and the examination will not be able to delay the consideration of the bill in the Parliament.

"Given the difficulty of going through the opening of the negotiation procedure with the EU, it is necessary to have a 100% guarantee that this will not be put on our heads as a violation of religious rights. Therefore, the Venice Commission is a normal decision," he added.

As reported, the MPs urged Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk to appeal to the Venice Commission over the UOC the ban.