Strasbourg, 16/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The transition process in Ukraine has to a large extent failed (the rule of law has not been consolidated, freedoms are not assured): from that observation, in his report adopted in plenary on Thursday, Finland's Paavo Vayrynen MEP member of the Liberal Group backs the Union's common strategy towards the country. Progress is needed regarding political reform and human rights, says the EP, even though it does identify one positive element (the abolition of the death penalty). Economically, the EP calls at least for the current rate of economic reforms to be sustained, and stresses that the EU can play an important role here; however, (amendment tabled by the Socialist Group) it warns against any illusion that EU integration could be a goal that the Ukraine economy could rapidly achieve. Great effort is necessary in farming and energy, but the EP welcomes the definitive closure of the nuclear power plant of Chernobyl, while calling for regular reports on the site's decommissioning. As for technical assistance, while approving the choices made in the framework of TACIS, the EP calls for the TACIS programme for democracy to be bolstered, so as to support civil society and the independent media. In the realm of justice and home affairs, it pleads in favour of a reform of the police and legal sector and, while observing the impossibility of dispensing Ukraine citizens of visa obligations to enter the EU, it considers that these visas should be very widely granted to Ukraine citizens. The EP, moreover, acknowledges the role that Ukraine can play is seeking solutions to regional problems (like those in the Balkans) and crisis management. More generally, Parliament is convinced that the EU should pay more attention to Eastern non-candidate countries: all European countries may request Union membership if they meet the political and economic criteria, it recalls, following its rapporteur.
In his report, Mr. Vayrynen refers to the common strategy for Ukraine as being "part of a comprehensive Pan-European policy of the EU", and takes up the idea , close to him, of a Europe built as a system of concentric circles in which the EU would "systematically utilise the OSCE and the Council of Europe for preparing the present and future candidate countries for membership, and for promoting the goals of the Cfsp and integration on the Pan-European level" (You may recall that, in this vision of Mr. Vayrynen, the Union itself would be differentiated, with a "federal core" - a Federation - the heart of the Union that would expand, develop, as whole, as a confederation"). The European Union has already decided to implement the method of Joint Action in the framework of the OSCE, and "it is now time to start utilising this forum systematically and effectively in promoting our common goals in this field", states the rapporteur, for whom the EU should turn to Joint Action also in the Council of Europe, in principle covering "all areas of our policies". Indeed, he says, there is an urgent need for Pan-European cooperation in several fields, such as transport, energy, nuclear safety, the environment and the fight against crime".