Brussels, 16/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 15 October, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle said he was confident of an imminent exit from the situation of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. “We are not far from seeing Yulia Tymoshenko released to receive medical treatment in Germany”, Füle said, according to French news agency AFP. “It will not be next week, but certainly before the summit [of the Eastern Partnership] in Vilnius [at the end of November], he added. Settlement of the issue of selective justice is one of the conditions for Ukraine to be able to sign its association agreement with the European Union during the summit. “In view of the progress made” on the other conditions, “it would only be logical for the Ukrainians to satisfy the outstanding criteria”, Füle said.
Later in the day, European Parliament President Martin Schulz announced the prolongation of the Parliament's mission of its former presidents, Pat Cox and Alexander Kwasniewski, until mid-November - in other words, a few days before the Eastern Partnership summit. “We are nearer a realistic scenario of acceptable settlement by the three parties - the Ukrainian government, Ms Tymoshenko and the EU”, Kwasniewski said. “Further work is needed” on the issue of selective justice, Cox reiterated.
Schulz said that Cox and Kwasniewski have presented a draft letter on Tymoshenko's behalf, to be sent to Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych, with the aim of “what we call partial pardon” - which could lead to the possibility for Tymoshenko to leave Ukraine to receive medical treatment in Germany after two years in prison. “This is what we call a humanitarian contribution to find a solution to an issue that is very delicate, interdependent and diplomatic”, according to Schulz. Stating that the European Parliament's conference of presidents had accepted this letter, Schulz spoke of the legal and political basis to reach “a positive conclusion” to the case of Yuri Lutsenko (see EUROPE 10822), who was released - and there is therefore, in Schulz's view, a possibility of reaching the same type of conclusions.
Schulz called on the other institutions not to make reference to the Parliament's mission because this could be counter productive for the mission. “They must be supported but there must be no interference in their work”, he added, although Füle regularly makes reference to this mission (our translation throughout). (CG/transl.fl)