KIEV, Sept. 5 – Ukraine came a step closer towards signing landmark agreements with the European Union in November after Parliament voted on Thursday to approve the first set of required bills.

The ruling Regions Party and opposition groups joined forces in overwhelmingly supporting the bills, some in the first reading, with some bills still requiring approval from the Constitutional Court.

The bills were earlier designated by the European Union as important for Ukraine to sign political association and free trade agreements at a summit in Vilnius in November.

“Today Parliament made an important step in preparation for the signing of the agreements with the European Union,” Anatoliy Hrytsenko, a former defense minister and a member of the opposition Batkivshchyna group, said.

The bills approved include legislation that stipulates milder regulations in prisons allowing inmates more frequent family visits, the freedom to use mobile phones and cash, and to wear civilian clothes.

Other bills seek to reform customs tariffs and stricter implementation of court decisions.

Meanwhile, at least one bill has failed to gain traction with lawmakers. The bill, aimed at eliminating discrimination against homosexuals, has failed to win backing from the ruling Regions Party. Lawmakers, citing poor support for the bill among the people, will send a team to Brussels to try to renegotiate it.

“We can not reach consensus, not only in Parliament but also in the Ukrainian society, because according to the majority of society, it is contrary to our traditional values,” Valeria Lutkovska, a Parliament-appointed human rights envoy, told Interfax-Ukraine.

Lutkovska, who is expected to lead the team at the talks, said she has a plan on how to avoid discrimination in Ukraine without using the controversial bill.

“I plan to show the European Commission the strategy in combating discrimination in Ukraine,” Lutkovska said. “If this idea is supported by the European Commission, it will be brought to the Ukrainian Parliament and implemented in the relevant legislation."

President Viktor Yanukovych spent two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, in addressing lawmakers across political spectrum persuading them to support the bills that open way for signing the agreements.

The 28-member EU has set criteria for democratic progress which it says Ukraine must meet if the landmark political association and free trade agreements are to be signed in November.

Even as the Kiev government seeks to persuade the EU that Ukraine is a fit partner for the future, it has come under pressure from Russia, its biggest single trading partner which wants to entice it instead into a Russia-led Customs Union.

Russia fears a flood of highly competitive goods on the Russian market if Ukraine joins an EU free-trade zone.

In a warning shot to Ukraine, Russia effectively blocked imports of Ukrainian goods for several days last month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of possible "protective" measures by Moscow and its Customs Union allies, Belarus and Kazakhstan. (tl/ez)