Brussels, 19/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - The Ukrainian ambassador to the EU, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, has called on the European leaders clearly to state whether or not they intend to sign the EU-Ukraine association agreement at the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius in late November 2013.
“We expect a clear position from the 28 as to whether or not they will be signing the agreement”, he repeated several times on 18 July, at a meeting with a group of journalists. Several major EU countries - such as France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany - have not yet taken a stance. Only Lithuania and Poland have publicly announced that they plan to sign the agreement in Vilnius, the ambassador explained. He argues that opposing this signature means, amongst other things, a lack of strategic vision of the future of the EU. Yelisieiev also expressed concern at the conclusions of the G8 summit, in which the leaders welcomed the economic and commercial integration of Russia with certain countries of the region.
“The European decision on Ukraine is in the hands of the 28”, the ambassador explained, adding that Ukraine was determined to sign the agreement.
In order to create a positive attitude in the 28 capitals, we must show tangible progress in the eleven criteria decided upon by the EU and Ukraine, the ambassador explained. He said that since the EU-Ukraine summit of 25 February 2013 (see EUROPE 10793), Kiev has made progress in all of these criteria and all of them will be complete “by early October”. “We can use any kind of excuse, even Tymoshenko, in order to avoid signing. But any failure would be the responsibility of each member state individually (…). Any excuse can be understandable (…), but I believe it would be a mistake”, he explained.
Tymoshenko not the symbol of Ukraine's European integration
Yelisieiev spoke of the cases of selective justice in Ukraine, such as the case of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which he preferred to refer to as “certain criminal cases of particular concerns”. Personally, he said that “the Tymoshenko case (should) not be a kind of precondition for the signature of the agreement (…). We should not accord the same weight to the Tymoshenko issue and the association agreement”. “Tymoshenko is the symbol of shortcomings in Ukrainian justice which we are in the process of reforming, but she is not the symbol of Ukraine's European integration”, he added. The ambassador went on to stress that, in recent weeks, Ukraine and Germany had been in touch many times with a view to “putting together a strategy” to ease the situation. Similarly, the mission of the European Parliament, led by its former president, Ireland's Pat Cox, and the former Polish president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, “is working flat out” with Ukraine.
The Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting will be held in Brussels on Monday 22 July, straight after the Foreign Affairs Council, which will discuss recent developments in the countries of the partnership. (CG/transl.fl)