Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Policies and Protection of Veterans Rights Halyna Tretiakova has commented on her statement where she mentioned "poor quality" children in families living off welfare.
According to her, she raised four children on her own, never took sick leave, working at least 50-60 hours a week and never applying for welfare payments.
At the same time, Tretiakova dismissed as "bullying" the row that her statement sparked.
"Thank you all for the sincere words of support. They are extremely important for me amid this orchestrated bullying," MP wrote on Facebook. "Yes, the wording chosen was politically incorrect. Who of us never makes mistakes, especially during long public speeches?" she said.
"And yes. I'm not perfect. And I don't want to be perfect I just do what I can in the position where I am," Tretiakova added.
As reported earlier, speaking in a stream posted by the Kyiv School of Economics on May 26, Tretiakova said the following: "When we demographically provide welfare that is used by families for anything but providing their child with equal rights and education, while giving birth to a child only to receive financial assistance. Then we get – I'll say harshly – children of very low quality, who also start feeding on public funds. Margaret Thatcher also spoke of this once," Tretiakova said, adding that the UK is tough on those who "don't work and don't protect". She went on to cite the example of Singapore where Li Kuan Yu reportedly told to sterilize women with no higher education.
The relevant excerpt from the stream was posted by a Facebook public in late May and went largely unnoticed, but the row sparked after the Federation of Professional Unions of Ukraine on June 24 publicly called for Tretiakova's sacking from the post of Parliamentary Committee for Social Policies and Protection of Veterans Rights.