The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, confirmed on Saturday 10 November, the day before the ‘elections’ in the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donesk, that the EU would not recognise these elections.
These elections to elect the “presidents” and “deputies” of these “people's republics” have seen the victory of the current separatist leaders.
“The EU considers that the ‘elections’ [of] 11 November 2018 in the non-government controlled territories of the Luhansk People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic as illegal and illegitimate and will not recognise them”, she warned in a declaration on behalf of the Twenty-Eight, adding that the EU condemned these ‘elections’, which “[are] in breach of international law, [undermine] the commitments taken under the Minsk agreements and [violate] Ukraine's sovereignty and law”. A declaration confirmed on 12 November by the spokesperson for the European External Action Service, Maja Kocijancic.
The Minsk Agreements - of which Europeans have reiterated their support and are calling for implementation - “exclusively provide for local elections to be held within the framework of the Ukrainian legislation and under the OSCE standards and observations”, recalls the declaration, which therefore considers that this renders “these so-called ‘elections’ null and void”. Moreover, Russia must make full use of its considerable influence over the separatists it supports, she adds.
The day before, from Kiev, the Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy, Johannes Hahn, had already announced that these elections were not “a contribution” to resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine and that Europeans would certainly not recognise these elections.
Continuing the fight against corruption
In Ukraine, the Commissioner once again called for progress in the fight against corruption. “Corruption is still endemic in Ukraine”, he said during a visit to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), whose work he praised. Mr. Hahn therefore urged, for the umpteenth time, the establishment of the High Anti-Corruption Court “so that the cases [raised by NABU] can be managed in a prompt, fair and effective manner”. “Corrupt officials must be punished”, he added. The Commissioner also stressed the need to ensure the independence and proper functioning of anti-corruption institutions. He therefore called on the authorities to take “necessary measures to restore the credibility” of the specialised anti-corruption prosecutor, “who allegedly seriously violated ethical rules, but who is still in office”.
The Commissioner also asked that the perpetrators of Kateryna Handzyuk's murder and the instigators be arrested (see EUROPE 12131). “We must all work hard to solve this crime, to identify not only the murderers, but also those who ordered the crime. That's what matters”, he said.
However, criticism aside, the Commissioner welcomed the progress made in health sector reforms and decentralisation, and in the privatisation of companies. While acknowledging that around one hundred small businesses had been privatised, Mr Hahn called for the privatisation of larger companies. He hoped that this would be done in a highly professional and transparent manner, so as not to create oligopolies. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)