Scandal in Ukrainian politics - the opposition Poroshenko complained to the EU about the Ukrainian authorities

A political scandal erupted in Ukraine due to the fact that the opposition, represented by ex-president Petro Poroshenko, complained to the EU about the authorities violating their rights to unimpeded travel abroad. The authorities did not like it, because, they say, it can harm the process of joining the EU - they say, you should not complain to Brussels about internal problems.

But, as experts draw attention, it is precisely this policy of the state towards the opposition that can harm European integration. And numerous cases of very strange bans on Petro Poroshenko are noticed in the European Union. And it was even mentioned in a separate resolution of the European Parliament.

Even in the evening of February 29, Telegram channels began to spread Poroshenko's letter of complaint to the European Commissioner for Enlargement from Hungary regarding travel bans. And in the morning, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Olga Stefanishyna accused Petro Poroshenko of trying to disrupt Ukraine's European integration.

"I consider it a manifestation of the highest cynicism to appeal to the European commissioner for enlargement, in fact, with a call to stop the further movement of Ukraine through the negotiation process due to personal interests," said Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna in a comment to "European Truth."

Ex-president and leader of the opposition party "European Solidarity" Poroshenko repeatedly faced difficulties when he tried to go abroad on a business trip. A number of opposition deputies from other factions complained about the same, including Roman Kostenko from "Holos".

With the introduction of martial law, men aged 18-60 were prohibited from leaving the country without special permits.

Although male MPs are exempt from mobilization, they also had to receive permission for business trips. Female deputies traveled freely for some time.

However, after a series of scandals, in particular, with deputies from "Servant of the People" who went on vacation abroad, Volodymyr Zelenskyy by his decree forbade people's deputies from traveling without special permission. This applies to both women and men.

If a deputy wants to go on a business trip, he must present documents to the leadership of the parliament - where and why. After that, get a special permit to show at the border.

Poroshenko often had problems with this, sometimes right at the border. In December, he was completely banned from entering due to a "secret letter" from the SBU, which allegedly said that he could become "a tool in the hands of Russian special services abroad." He was stopped just at the border, although he had all the permits in hand. And in February 2024, he was not allowed to attend the Munich Security Conference.

On February 29, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Oliver Vargei, published a letter from the leader of the "EU", in which Poroshenko asked him to influence the government of Ukraine and stop the "discriminatory practice" of not being allowed abroad.

In the letter, Varheya was asked to contact the government of Ukraine and, in the absence of a response, to raise this issue in the context of the upcoming report of the European Commission on Ukraine's progress in moving to the EU and developing a negotiating framework for accession.

It is significant that on Thursday, February 29, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the need to continue to support Ukraine from the EU side after two years of war with Russia, which also discussed Ukraine's achievements on the way to preparing for EU membership.

But there was also a point that the European Parliament is concerned about restrictions on trips abroad for Ukrainian deputies, in particular opposition members.

The European Parliament is convinced that during the war "any political resource that can represent the cause of Ukraine at any international forum cannot be neglected."

From a QR code to "secret letters" from the SBU

Poroshenko, who as a former president has many connections in the international community, had more than one problem with traveling abroad during martial law.

In May 2022, he was released only for the third time: at first, the QR code on the business trip order signed by the Speaker of the Council allegedly did not work for him, then, the border guards said, he "did not provide all the documents."

But the loudest scandal, which became international, happened in December 2023, when Poroshenko was not allowed to go on a business trip to Poland and the USA, because the authorities canceled the permission to leave at the last moment due to a "secret letter" from the special services.

Later, the SBU explained that in this way they thwarted the Russian IPSO, and that Poroshenko was supposed to "become a tool in the hands of the Russian special services", because he planned to meet, among other things, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who expresses an anti-Ukrainian position and is " friend of Putin".

Hungary reacted with surprise to the scandal, noting that they do not want to "play any role in President Zelenskyi's internal political struggle" and that "such political purges are another indication that Ukraine is not yet ready for EU membership."

But not even two months passed when the situation happened again. In February 2024, Poroshenko was not allowed to go to the Munich Security Conference, because he was allegedly in danger there.

"The reason was allegedly the appeal of the head of the State Administration of Ukraine Kyryl Budanov regarding the "alleged danger" for Petro Poroshenko during his stay in Europe," said the message of the "EU" faction.

That is why Poroshenko, as confirmed by his fellow party members, complained about the situation to the European Commissioner.

"It is very telling that neither the author nor anyone from his team flaunts him on social networks. I think they did not expect that the European Commissioner would publish the screenshots. That is, I assume, they hoped to hide their direct role in future negative decisions on Ukraine. This is outrageous," thinks Deputy Prime Minister Stefanishyna.

She says that yes, "there is a certain discussion" regarding the situation with delegations of representatives of various branches of government to martial law, and "this is not a matter of one and only one specific person, although President Poroshenko is trying to present it that way."

Stefanishyna emphasized that she is a representative of the government and cannot evaluate the procedures in the Council, but noted that "this letter shows the worst in our politics."

"Brussels and Paris see everything that way"

Indeed, Poroshenko was not told anything about the complaint to the European Commissioner, but they do not deny that there was one. The opposition says that by accusing the opposition, the authorities do not understand that they themselves created this problem.

"The authorities are outraged that the issue of not allowing the opposition to go on a business trip has received the highest attention in the EU. They say that it is the opposition that is "disrupting European integration". Just the opposite. European integration is threatened by authoritarian actions of the authorities. It is impossible to go to Europe and build a dictatorship in Ukraine at the same time," says Rostyslav Pavlenko, a member of Poroshenko's party.

"The approach of "what we can do" is Russian, not European. They will no longer tolerate him... It is futile to hope that partners do not see and will continue to indulge. We have to get used to it: on the way to Europe, dictatorial attempts will not be tolerated," the deputy believes.

"Instead of stopping building an authoritarian state, political censorship and harassment of the opposition, the authorities are looking for the culprits, who complained to the Europeans about the return of Yanukovych's practices to Ukrainian politics. Brussels, Washington, Paris and Berlin see all this themselves," writes Iryna Gerashchenko, another associate of the ex-president.

In Harashchenko's opinion, instead of blaming "partners for telling the truth about the un-European nature of its actions", the authorities should stop putting pressure on the opposition, business, journalists "and all those who disagree", as well as return the broadcast of the Verkhovna Rada meetings and close the telethon.

Serhii Sydorenko, the editor-in-chief of Evropeyska Pravda, to whom Stefanishyna shared her assessment of Poroshenko's actions, believes that such a "zealous and grotesque" struggle between the authorities and Poroshenko is "insanely and simply now" harming Ukraine, and "strategically" harming the authorities themselves.

In his opinion, such news does not affect Poroshenko's ratings in any way, and also reminds of the political past of Ukraine, when Viktor Yanukovych fought just as fiercely with his opponent Yulia Tymoshenko. That only contributed to her popularity, but did not bring success to Yanukovych himself.

Expert Volodymyr Horbach reminds that the ban applies to all deputies and many representatives of the opposition complain about the violation of their rights. He calls not to fight against specific politicians, to eliminate the reasons for the violation of their rights.

"Who but her, the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, should know that the existing practice in Ukraine of persecuting the opposition and all persons disagreeable to the authorities is in no way compatible with membership in the EU", - believes Horbach.

In his opinion, accusing people of turning to the EU for the protection of democracy is the same as accusing people who seek justice in the European Court of Human Rights.