KIEV, Sept. 4 – Parliament on Thursday is expected to approve five bills that are aimed at bringing Ukraine closer to signing landmark agreements with the European Union in November, lawmakers said Wednesday.

Both the ruling Regions Party and opposition groups held meetings on Wednesday to drum up support for the bills and to make sure all lawmakers attend the important session.

“I have to say that we have made very significant progress and we can safely call tomorrow the Day of Europe,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, the leader of Batkivshchyna, Ukraine's largest opposition party, said. “I believe that tomorrow we will approve the five key bills.”

President Viktor Yanukovych, who urged Parliament on Tuesday to pass the bills, on Wednesday held a special meeting with his Regions Party, to stress the importance of the vote.

“The world is looking at us, we don’t need any risks,” Volodymyr Makeyenko, a senior member of the Regions Party, said after the meeting.

The developments underscore a major effort put by Yanukovych to make sure the bills are approved and come a week after Russia threatened trade sanctions against Ukraine if the country signs the agreements with the EU.

The bills include amendments to the constitution regarding the independence of judges, legislation aimed at enforcing court rulings, on improving conditions for those imprisoned and legislation on single customs tariff that complies with the World Trade Organization and legislation expanding powers of the Accounting Chamber, Parliament’s watchdog over the use of state finances.

Makeyenko said the meeting with Yanukovych was a “tough session,” but said all Regions Party lawmakers have agreed to support the legislation.

Some Regions Party members have openly supported the course towards closer ties with Russia, but had apparently changed their minds after the session with Yanukovych.

"We had a tough session, it was very long,” Makeyenko said. “We asked who is against the bills? There was none. We have decided unanimously to vote for all bills for the European integration."

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)