Brussels, 01/02/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, at the end of a meeting with the Ukrainian minister of foreign affairs, Boris Tarasjuk, the European Commissioner for external relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner informed the press that the European Commission is prepared to begin consultations with Kiev in an effort to negotiate a more ambitious agreement than the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which expires at the end of 2007 but only if Ukraine implements the main elements of the action plan signed with the EU on implementing the European neighbourhood policy. On Tuesday at the EP foreign affairs committee, the minister called for an Association and Partnership Agreement and a free trade zone with the EU. Ferrero-Waldner explained that there was nothing in principle that ruled out consultations on an “enhanced agreement” on the condition, however, that the “main priorities” of the neighbourhood action plan policy had been carried out in a satisfactory way. Asked about European goals in Ukraine (Mr Tarasyuk informed MEPs that the objective of his country was to join the EU by 2015), Ferrero-Waldner would only say that the “Neighbourhood policy is not for EU membership”. She did, nevertheless, underline that this did not prejudge the EU's future position.
Meanwhile, negotiations between the EU and Ukraine on facilitating procedures for granting visas are progressing well and Tarasyuk is said to be confident that the next negotiation meeting at the end of February beginning of March could be concluded. Mr Tarasyuk said that the two sides agree on saying that the final objective of the facilitation process had to be visa free travel. Ferrero-Waldner also called on the Ukrainian authorities to guarantee that elections on 26 March were “democratic, free and fair”.
On Wednesday morning, at the EP delegation for relations with Ukraine, the Head of the Ukrainian opposition, former prime minister Yulia Timoshenko vigorously criticised the agreement on gas supplies concluded by her country at the beginning of January. She said that it was an “unfair and humiliating” agreement for Ukraine, negotiated by civil servants and bureaucrats who lacked professionalism. She also informed the press that if she came back to power after the elections she wanted to deal with Russia “on an equal footing”.