The OPPOSITION BLOC expressed hope that the plan to resolve the situation in eastern Ukraine proposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, would help to resolve the conflict. “We have high hopes for Merkel’s peace plan, which miraculously corresponds to what the opposition proposed - 11 steps out of the crisis in South-Eastern Ukraine,” said MP Serhiy Lovochkin, Deputy Chair of the OPPOSITION BLOC in his comments to Sobytiya news program on Ukraine TV Channel.

He also noted that one of the demands of the OPPOSITION BLOC was to save the economy from collapse. “We suggested - and Boyko yesterday identified the 12 basic steps to be taken immediately - to stop the destruction of the Ukrainian economy. Over the past year there has been absolutely no reform. This resulted not only in disruption of social programs, but also derailed the IMF extended facility program, which depleted the foreign exchange reserves of the central bank. That is why we have the exchange rate of 25 hryvnias to the dollar, which is almost 300 percent more than at the beginning of last year,” said Serhiy Lovochkin on the parliament sidelines.

The MP also noted the growing external debt of Ukraine. “The external debt is denominated in foreign currency, while the budget revenues are in local currency, and thus the ratio of external debt to GDP is critical, Ukraine is a country with the world's highest foreign debt per capita,” Lovochkin said.

According to him, the constitutional reform is a third important item on the OPPOSITION BLOC agenda. “We will do everything to ensure that local governments through constitutional reform received all necessary administrative tools in their communities,” the OPPOSITION BLOC representative stated.

In the current situation, local governments have virtually no levers of control. “Local authorities do not have the budget, nor any real mechanisms associated with the public administration in their territories, and this disheartens them. The promised decentralization does not take place. “What is offered now as a formula of solution, particularly, ‘backroom constitutional commissions’ or ‘decisions at the legislative level, without the constitutional reform’, changing the agenda of local self-governance, we believe is a smoke screen. We don’t see this as a way out of the crisis,” Serhiy Lovochkin said.

The OPPOSITION BLOC will insist on a referendum on amendments to the Constitution. The OPPOSITION BLOC launches the Shadow Cabinet, which will offer its own program of recovery, and we will continue to do everything to implement our peaceful initiatives,” the Deputy Chairman of the faction assured.

The OPPOSITION BLOC representative also criticized the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada formed by the coalition. According to him, it is far from real life and cannot ensure peace sought by Ukrainians. “I am surprised that there has been no reform in the country for a year, and the offered agenda is ridiculous. Political persecution, pressure on the media... You made a decision on a ‘non-aligned status,” and how did that help us? You made a decision to call Russia an aggressor state, and how did that help us, what changed about that? I believe that the coalition agenda is far from real life. It does not give people the opportunity to live better. It does not give peace, nor progress to the country, it does not promote reforms,” Serhiy Lovochkin said.