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EU wants traction, not distraction in relations with Ukraine, Commissioner says

14-06-2012

The EU and Ukraine should live up to the historic opportunity to realize the enormous potential in political association and economic integration, Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Commissioner Štefan Füle said today. “This is about creating opportunities for our future – let us not squander them,” he said addressing the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.  

Füle said the Committee was meeting at a critical moment in EU-Ukraine relations, when “A shared vision across political forces of a European, modern and democratic Ukraine is the best starting point for getting Ukraine back on track towards political association with the European Union.”
 
The Commissioner said the EU and Ukraine had negotiated “one of the most ambitious and complex agreements the European Union has ever negotiated with a third country”. He said signing the Agreement would open the way to a comprehensive programme of modernization, linked to enhanced support. “It would be good for Ukraine, good for the European Union, and good for the Eastern Partnership,” he emphasized, adding the EU wanted “traction, not distraction” in relations with Ukraine.
 
Füle urged Ukraine to deliver on the issue of selective justice, stressing that explanations over the trials of Tymoshenko, Lutsenko, Ivashchenko and others were not enough. “This is not about personalities or political allegiances, but about a systemic problem,” he stressed.
 
The EU wants visible action from Ukraine, the Commissioner said, in particular in three areas:
 
  • elections, where the proof of Ukraine’s commitment will be in the preparation and conduct of the parliamentary elections in October;
  • selective justice, where the proof will be in allowing those individuals convicted under demonstrably unfair prosecutions to have access to fair and transparent legal processes which would allow for the elimination of the consequences of political misuse of the judiciary;
  • reforms, where the proof will be in an acceleration of the implementation of the Association Agenda.
      Whatever the political climate in Ukraine, these reforms require cross-party support if they are to succeed in fixing a systemic problem which will impact on the lives of all Ukrainians, said Štefan Füle.  (EU Neighbourhood Info) 
 
Read more
 
Štefan Füle - Speech
 
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre - EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council takes stock of relations (16-5-2012)
 
Delegation of the EU to Ukraine
 
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre webpage - Ukraine
 
 

 


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