We present the full text of Viktor Yanukovych's speech in parliament:

"Dear voters, dear citizens of Ukraine, dear deputies, dear presidium!

Everything that has been happening recently in parliament prompted us to resort to extreme measures – to blocking the work of the Verkhovna Rada. What were we trying to achieve? We were trying, first of all, to ensure that both the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers and the authorities in general had the opportunity to work effectively.

Without creating conditions for the opposition, we know, it is impossible to build an effective system of power. Therefore, we, as the future opposition, defended our rights. We believed that the opposition exists not only for parliament and not only for deputies, but it exists for the Ukrainian people and for the state. And not only our voters who supported us, but the Ukrainian people in general are interested in the authorities working effectively. This is what we all lack. And it is very important that understanding be achieved precisely in this hall. Because we have to work with you for another five years.

Everything that happened after that, all these 9 days gave us the opportunity to hear each other. The President of Ukraine in his speech on the 10th anniversary of the Constitution clearly said that laws, the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure must be observed. Everything we did over the last three days, and the first meeting with the President's participation at the round table of the 'five' and the work of the Conciliation Council after that showed that we do indeed have an understanding of what we must do together. Precisely together, because we must be united in this hall, just as Ukraine must be united.

Therefore, we prepared and considered first in the presence of the President all the issues that concerned us regarding the protection of the rights of the opposition, and then at the Conciliation Council we considered them more carefully. The only issue on which we had disagreements during the meeting with the President was the issue of distributing committees according to the principle of power-opposition. This issue is also of great importance, because the development of an effective system of power depends on how effective both the authorities and the opposition will be.

It is understandable and natural that at this time, when we have approached the consideration of this issue both in parliament and at our Conciliation Council, such an instrument does not yet exist today. It will be created in this hall. First – by adopting decisions on amendments to the Rules of Procedure, then – by adopting relevant draft laws and possible amendments to the Constitution.

The life of the Ukrainian people will depend on how we approach this issue (regardless of who will be in power and who will be in opposition). It will depend on how the authorities can fulfill their direct duties – that is, work effectively for the Ukrainian people and for the state.

Therefore, I would like to now announce the agreement that was considered and agreed upon, except for one point, as I said – committees. But last night this point was agreed upon. And now at the Conciliation Council it was finally considered. We will still work on it together with you.

I will now read the agreement very briefly.

We, the leaders of deputy factions in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – the Party of Regions, BYuT, the 'Our Ukraine' bloc, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, the Communist Party of Ukraine, aware of our high responsibility before the Ukrainian people for preserving its unity, the worthy future of the state and its citizens, proceeding from the necessity of overcoming the political and parliamentary crisis, affirming Ukraine as a democratic and legal state, the bearer of sovereignty, and the sole source of power in which is the people, basing ourselves on the principles of democratic pluralism, partnership, openness and transparency of activity, confirming our devotion to democratic values and the principle of the rule of law, taking into account the necessity of doing everything within our power to improve the life of the people, to set aside everything that hinders a person from building an honest and prosperous life through labor, with the aim of establishing constructive work of the single legislative body, defining the principles of mutual relations between the authorities and the parliamentary opposition, have agreed on the following:

- the election of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the first deputy and deputy chairman of the VR is carried out in accordance with Article 88 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Article 70 of the Rules of Procedure of the VR of Ukraine, by secret ballot through the submission of ballots, separately for each candidacy;

- the deputy chairman of the VR of Ukraine from the deputy faction of the Party of Regions in the VR of Ukraine is assigned the organization and provision of control functions of parliament;

- committees of the VR are assigned to the opposition, quotas for the distribution of positions of first deputies, deputy chairmen, secretaries and members of committees shall be determined in accordance with Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine 'On Committees of the VR of Ukraine', Article 76 of the Rules of Procedure of the VR of Ukraine, proportionally from the quantitative composition of deputy factions to the actual number of people's deputies (But the principle of power-opposition distribution is preserved here. We have agreed on this. And a corresponding resolution will be prepared.);

- the submission of proposals to the President of Ukraine regarding the candidacy of the Prime Minister of Ukraine is carried out in accordance with Part 8 of Article 83 of the Constitution of Ukraine, Part 3 of Article 64 of the Rules of Procedure of the VR of Ukraine;

- the appointment of a candidate for the position of Prime Minister of Ukraine upon submission by the President of Ukraine is carried out in accordance with paragraph 12 of Part 1 of Article 85 of the Constitution of Ukraine, Part 9 of Article 200 of the Rules of Procedure of the VR of Ukraine by open voting;

- to create a working group of representatives of factions, which together with the Presidential Secretariat within a week prepares a list of state authority bodies with control functions, the leadership of which is transferred to deputy factions that did not join the coalition (we are working on this issue, as I already said);

- by July 24, 2006, with the aim of forming the full composition of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, simultaneously swear in the judges of the CCU, in accordance with the procedure defined by Part 3 of Article 17 of the Law of Ukraine 'On the CCU';

- appointment to and dismissal from positions of heads of state administrations is carried out after consultations of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Presidential Secretariat of Ukraine with the relevant councils;

- to create a working group to develop within a week proposals for amendments to the provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the VR that would grant the opposition rights and establish mechanisms for control over the current authorities with subsequent enshrinement of these norms in a law regulating the activity of the parliamentary opposition;

- within 10 days after the approval of the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers, terminate the combination of the deputy mandate with other types of activity.

And the last thing. The parties agree that today, at this time, we unblock the Verkhovna Rada and it begins to work in plenary mode. And that's it!"