Brussels, 25/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 25 October, the European Council reasserted in Brussels that the European Union is determined to sign the association agreement with Ukraine at the Eastern Partnership summit (Vilnius, 28-29 November), including the part on the deep and comprehensive free-trade area, “provided there is determined action and tangible progress in line with the Council conclusions of 10 December 2012” (see EUROPE 10748). The EU is ready to begin provisional application of this agreement.
“We will respect our commitments if Ukraine respects its commitments”, said President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that “everyone presented an 'uneasy optimism'” with regard to Ukraine.
Tymoshenko's fate. “We call on the authorities of Kiev to find a solution with the mission [of the European Parliament of presidents Cox and Kwasniewski] immediately. This is the best way to settle the issue and to make signing the association agreement possible”, said President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. “Everyone rightly knows what must be done. The good procedure is to cooperate with the mission and thus concrete results will enable the outcome of signing the association agreement”, he added.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the heads of state and government reiterated their expectations “not only concerning the case of [former Ukrainian prime minister] Yulia Tymoshenko but also on the necessary legal changes”. “There is progress in a whole series of areas including the rule of law, but on selective justice, Ukraine must find a solution to the Tymoshenko affair”, said Barroso. “If Ukraine respects a number of principles and conditions, particularly human rights and the Tymoshenko case, then the association agreement can be signed in a short space of time”, said France's President François Hollande. The issue of knowing whether Tymoshenko's transfer abroad for medical treatment is enough or if she must be pardoned still does not seem to have been addressed on the European side.
Tusk was harsher. “The way the Ukrainian authorities have acted [on the Tymoshenko affair] has been far from satisfactory up to now (…). We sometimes have the impression that they are playing to gain time”, he said. “If the Ukrainian authorities don't understand that this affair must be clearly resolved, with the agreement of Yulia Tymoshenko, then such dilatory manoeuvres can only have negative consequences”, he continued, adding that he was not “in a position to define what such a solution should be like”.
Initialling with Moldova and Georgia. In their conclusions, the heads of state also said that the EU is ready to initial association agreements, with a deep and comprehensive free-trade area, with the Republic of Moldova and Georgia. This would also be at the summit in Vilnius.
In its conclusions, the European Council underlines “the importance of the Eastern Partnership for building a common area of democracy, prosperity and stability across the European continent”. In Barroso's view, “we are close to reaching our common objective of political association and economic integration with our Eastern partners”. However, Hollande stressed that these countries were not destined to become members of the EU. “I am very committed to us being able to make Europe look beyond itself. There are countries which are not destined to join the EU but which should be associated to it under certain conditions”, he added, saying that he will attend the summit in Vilnius. In Barroso's opinion, the Vilnius summit is “potentially a historic event”. “I choose my words carefully”, he said (our translation). (CG, with JK and AN/transl.fl)