At its meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 19 February 2014 the Monitoring Committee of the Congress expressed its grave concern at the escalation of violence in Ukraine. In a draft resolution to be debated during the Congress's next session from 25 to 27 March 2014 (subject to approval by the Congress Bureau), the committee gives its full support to an initiative by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to establish an advisory panel to investigate the violent incidents linked to the protests in Kyiv following the country's non-ratification of the association agreement with the European Union. It considers that only genuine and immediate dialogue among all political forces in Ukraine can help the country find a way out of its current profound crisis and calls on all parties to refrain from all forms of violence and to establish conditions conducive to political dialogue on all levels. Such dialogue must engender, without further delay, a constitutional and administrative reform that endows Ukraine with political and administrative institutions which command broad support and which are, as regards local and regional authorities, consistent with the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the recommendations adopted by the Congress in October 2013.

Press release