Brussels, 23/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - In Yalta (Ukraine) on 20 September, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle stressed that while “time is not on our side” because the summit in Vilnius is approaching - a summit at which the association agreement could be signed - “we are on the right track”. “The progress achieved on the criteria [required by the EU], particularly over recent weeks and months, is unprecedented”, Füle stated. “You want Plan A, and it's a good choice because there is no Plan B”, he told the people of Ukraine.
During a joint meeting with Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych, Füle, Sweden's Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Bildt, and the leader of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee Elmar Brok, all stressed that “time is pressing and increased efforts are needed to ensure determined action and tangible progress on the criteria needed for the signature of the association agreement”. They reiterated “the crucial importance of progress on electoral legislation, the law on the public prosecutor's office and on the case of Yulia Tymoshenko [the former prime minister]”. The results of the European Parliament's mission of former president Pat Cox and Aleksander Kwasniewski on Tymonshenko's case should be made public in the coming days. During a meeting with Yanukovych, Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaité (whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council of Ministers) stressed that Ukraine must also improve the business environment and the fight against corruption.
Time is pressing because although the Vilnius summit takes place at the end of November, the ministers must decide on 21 October whether or not the agreement should be signed - so that the national procedures might then be carried out in time for the summit, should it be decided that the agreement is to be signed. (CG/transl.fl)