UKRAINE: Parliament Blocks Open Travel To EU Nations Over Gay Employment Protections

Yesterday Ukraine’s Parliament voted down gay employment protections, which are a requirement for visa-free travel among the EU nations that belong to the Schengen zone. Agence France-Presse reports:



President Petro Poroshenko said in a nationally televised address late Wednesday that his crisis-torn nation — it’s economy battered and the pro-Russian separatist east out of Kiev’s control — faced “an extremely important day”. A “yes” vote would allow “Ukrainian citizens to visit EU countries without visas as early as next year,” the 50-year-old leader promised. But the chamber — controlled by a loose pro-government coalition that has often seen members break away to join nationalist or populist groups — gave the change a resounding “no” in the first of two required readings. Only 117 lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament supported the changes demanded by Brussels.

Such a minority reflects not only public opinion but also the slim chance the legislation has of collecting the required 226 votes in a second vote whose precise date has yet to be set. Poroshenko’s government was dealt another blow when a member of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s own party denounced the bill in a passionate back-bench address. “As a country with a thousand-year-old Christian history, we simply cannot allow this,” lawmaker Pavlo Unguryan said. “Today, a special status for sexual minorities is simply unacceptable.” The European Commission is tentatively due to decide next month whether Ukraine has fulfilled its commitments and qualified for the free travel west it wants.

Schengen-Countries