23. Takes note of the decision to hold presidential elections on 25 May 2014; underlines the need to ensure that these elections will be free and fair; strongly encourages the Verkhovna Rada to adopt the necessary electoral legislation in line with the Venice Commission recommendations, including a renewed law on the financing of political parties that addresses the issues identified by GRECO and the OSCE/ODIHR; encourages international observation of the upcoming elections and declares its readiness to set up its own observation m ...[+++]ission for this purpose through a substantial European Parliament election observation mission; believes that legislative elections should be organised swiftly after the presidential elections and before the end of the year; calls on the Commission, the Council of Europe and the OSCE/ODIHR to provide reinforced pre-election support and a substantial long-term election monitoring mission so that the presidential elections scheduled for 25 May 2014 can be held in accordance with the highest standards and produce a result all contenders can accept; calls for detachment of European Parliament staff to the EU delegation in Kyiv for a transitional period leading up to the elections;

21. Takes note of the decision to hold presidential elections on 25 May 2014; underlines the need to ensure that these elections will be free and fair; strongly encourages the Verkhovna Rada to adopt the necessary electoral legislation in line with the Venice Commission recommendations, including a renewed law on the financing of political parties that addresses the issues identified by GRECO and the OSCE/ODIHR; encourages international observation of the upcoming elections and declares its readiness to set up its own observation m ...[+++]ission for this purpose through a substantial European Parliament election observation mission; believes that legislative elections should be organised swiftly after the presidential elections and before the end of the year; calls on the Commission, the Council of Europe and the OSCE/ODIHR to provide reinforced pre-election support and a substantial long-term election monitoring mission so that the presidential elections scheduled for 25 May 2014 can be held in accordance with the highest standards and produce a result all contenders can accept; calls for detachment of European Parliament staff to the EU delegation in Kyiv for a transitional period leading up to the elections;

E. whereas the 2014 elections will be the first to take place after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty – which widens significantly the powers of the European Parliament, including its role in the election of the President of the Commission – and, accordingly, will provide a key opportunity to increase the transparency of the elections and strengthen their European dimension;

13. Regrets that election rules remain an ongoing subject of discussion and points out that the local election law has proven to be unsuitable for Ukraine; recommends all relevant political stakeholders of government and opposition to consider measures to foster the trust of electoral contestants and voters in the electoral process; underlines the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Report characterising the parliamentary elections of 2007 as mostly in line with OSCE and Council of Europe commitments and other international stan ...[+++]dards for democratic elections, that confirmed an open and competitive environment for the conduct of elections, and insists that these achievements must be guaranteed for future elections;

Considers, in the light of this, that election observation is merely a first step towards democracy and that it needs to be complemented by other, adequately funded activities and post-electoral measures for the promotion of democracy, in particular through capacity-building for national parliaments, political parties, the civil service, non-State actors and civil society, and through the promotion of human rights and good governance; therefore requests the maintenance of the budgetary ceiling agreed by the Commission of around 25 % of EIDHR for EU EOMs over the seven-year period of the Financial Framework 2007-2013; asks the Commissio ...[+++]n to set aside, within this budgetary framework, allocations for preparatory activities in anticipation of elections, including the training of local election monitors, voter education and other activities which are essential for the long-term establishment of free and fair elections.

Election of President of Parliament