Brussels, 09/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton will visit Kiev on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 December “to support a way out of the political crisis”, said President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso on 8 December, following his telephone conversation with Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych. “She can also have a role in trying to bring some solutions to the very tense situation that Ukraine is living today”, Barroso stated during a conference in Italy on 9 December. “We're not going to resolve the crisis but to accompany the search for a solution to the political crisis”, said Commission spokesperson Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen. According to Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for Ashton, the role of “formal mediator” for the crisis has not been mentioned.
Ashton, who is travelling to Ukraine with “a small delegation” and without Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle, is due to meet “all the main stakeholders” - from the opposition, the government and civil society. She is due to “call on all parties involved to work for a political way out of the crisis” according to her spokesperson. According to Ahrenkilde-Hansen, Ashton's visit was suggested by Barroso and the proposal was welcomed by Yanukovych, who asked Barroso to be able to host Ashton.
During his telephone conversation with Yanukovych, Barroso had reiterated “the need for a political solution to the current tensions, through dialogue with the opposition and civil society” and the need to respect civil liberties and to exercise a maximum of restraint - not to use force against people who demonstrate peacefully. Ashton is also expected to highlight the importance of avoiding violence and of investigating the violence against peaceful demonstrators.
Barroso also recalled the EU's position, which wants to sign the association agreement with a deep and comprehensive free-trade area, once the necessary conditions have been met.
Europeans welcome possible round table and call for calm. While Yanukovych agreed to meet three former heads of state on Tuesday from the countries which support the pro-EU protest, Füle said that any call for a true national dialogue is welcome. He added that it is necessary to take Yanukovych's statement seriously and to create good conditions for the start of such a round table. He also said that these conditions should be created with a view to finding a consensus to the challenges Ukraine is facing.
Lithuania's Minister for Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevicius hoped that Yanukovych's availability to speak to the opposition is true and that this will translate into tension being reduced. Linkevicius also spoke of his concerns in the face of information about there being special forces in the centre of Kiev during the afternoon of Monday 9 December - which could use force to dislodge the demonstrators. He said that any use of force would risk upsetting the efforts for a dialogue, and he added that the EU should stress that there should be no recourse to force, which would be provocative and upset the possibility of dialogue. Following the events with great concern, the EU ambassador, Jan Tombinski, made clear to the Ukrainian authorities that the unjustified use of force and anti-riot police against the peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable. He said that the Ukrainian government should respect the freedom both of expression and of assembly which was confirmed by its international commitments. Tombinski added that the current crisis should be resolved through dialogue and political means.
Support for demonstrators. On 9 December, Barroso gave his support to the demonstrators - “those young people in the streets of Ukraine, with freezing temperatures, are writing the new narrative for Europe”, he said. “I think the European Union has the right and the duty to stand by the people of Ukraine in this very difficult moment, because they are giving to Europe one of the greatest contributions that can be given”, he stated. “When we see in the cold streets of Kiev, men and women with the European flag, fighting for that European flag, it is because they are also fighting for Ukraine and for their future”, he said, underlining that these demonstrators “know that Europe is not just the land of opportunity in terms of economic development (…) but also because Europe is the promise of hope and freedom”. (CG/transl.fl)