Tuesday, November 19, 2013

European Union to Ukraine: Yanukovich Must Intervene to Release Timoshenko...or Else

The European Union urged Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Monday to intervene personally to end a stand-off over jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko that is threatening to derail an EU-Ukraine trade deal.

With less than two weeks to go before the trade agreement is due to be signed at a summit in Lithuanian capital Vilnius, EU foreign ministers made clear Ukraine had not yet done enough to meet conditions the bloc has laid down.

The fundamental sticking point is over former prime minister Tymoshenko, a fierce opponent of Yanukovich who was jailed in 2011 for seven years for abuse of office. Western governments have described the trial as politically motivated.

EU governments see Tymoshenko's case as symbolic of "selective justice" in Ukraine and want her to be allowed to travel to Germany to be treated for a chronic back ailment. There had also been a push by some EU governments for her to receive a pardon, but Yanukovich is resisting that.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he wanted Ukraine to look towards Europe and benefit from closer trade ties with the EU, but it also had to meet basic requirements.

"I urgently recommend Ukraine to act ... and not play for time. Time is running out," he told reporters in Brussels.

The foreign ministers had been expected to decide on Monday whether Ukraine had met the EU conditions for signing the agreement. But they put off their decision to allow time for a session of the Ukraine parliament this week they hope will pass a law that could permit Tymoshenko to go to Germany.

EU enlargement chief Stefan Fuele will travel to Ukraine on Tuesday and two EU envoys, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Irish politician Pat Cox, will also be in Kiev to try to broker a compromise on Tymoshenko.

Russia has used trade sanctions and the threat of disruption to energy supplies to dissuade Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and other former Soviet republics from moving closer to the EU. Russia has urged them to join a rival Russian-led customs union instead.

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