Brussels, 07/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - If Ukraine wants the EU to take the declarations of its leaders seriously on its "European choice" (and its long term objective to one day become a member of the EU), the Ukrainian government should give concrete demonstration of its determination to respect freedom of the press, improve the functioning of justice and implement indispensable economic and political reforms. This is one of the main messages that the EU will forward, on 11 September, during the EU/Ukraine Summit in Yalta to President Kuchma, it was stated on Friday by Timo Summa, Director for External Relations at the European Commission. The EU delegation will be formed by Guy Verhofstadt, Louis Michel and Romano Prodi (for the main points on the agenda, see yesterday's EUROPE, p.4). There seems to be the political determination to make reforms progress well "but so far there have been few concrete results", said Mr Summa. The Ukrainian authorities should also pledge, on Tuesday, to ensure that the parliamentary elections next March unfold as they should in a democratic way and that the judicial inquiries in progress on the death and disappearance of journalists ("Gongadze" case and others) are followed through and intensified. "We await clear commitments" on this subject, said Mr Summa
Among the most urgent economic reforms in Ukraine there is that of the energy sector. It will mainly be a question of pursuing the privatisation process, increasing energy efficiency, improving the functioning of gas and oil transit installations (mainly from Russia to the EU), and reforming the whole of the legislative and legal framework to facilitate foreign investment. Regarding the consequences of the closure of the Chernobyl power plant, the EU has already - in principle - decided that it will contribute with an Euratom loan of $585 million to the construction of two alternative plants, but this loan has not yet been made available, pending a favourable decision from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).