Brussels, 25/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday 24 September, the presidents of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, encouraged Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych to “take determined action and make tangible progress on the benchmarks set” by the EU, “including on the issue of selective justice”, “with a view to create the conditions conducive to signing the association agreement” at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius at the end of November. Though the issue of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has not been resolved, the Ukrainian media report that Yanukovych said that it will be settled around 21 October, when the conclusions of the mission by Pat Cox and Aleksander Kwasniewski are due to be published. The issues of the law on the prosecutor's office and the electoral law still also have to be resolved.
Barroso and Van Rompuy highlighted the EU's determination to take forward the association agenda with Ukraine. “There is a mutual understanding that there will be no obstacles on the path to signing the agreement”, Yanukovych said (our translation), certain that the agreement will be signed in November.
The three presidents also discussed cooperation on energy and financial assistance from the EU. (CG/transl.fl)