Published 15 May 2012
Meeting over lunch to discuss Ukraine, the Union’s foreign ministers failed to adopt common positions, but agreed that more should be done to work with civil society in Ukraine to defuse a loss of confidence in the country’s European perspective.
Diplomatic sources said ministers spoke openly about the risk that a tough line on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich would push the country closer to Russia, eager to put flesh to its plans for a “Eurasian Union” comprising former Soviet states. Russia has also invited Ukraine to join its Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, the EU has finalised an association agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with Ukraine. But the signature of these documents is pending depending on the fate of Tymoshenko and the conditions under which parliamentary elections due in October will be held.
One minister reportedly quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had called Ukraine a “non-accomplished state” - nesosstoyavsheesya gossudarstva. According to some analysts, a Eurasian Union without Ukraine would not fly.
Divided Union
EU ministers have been divided over the strategy to deal with Ukraine. Poland and the Baltic states favour of a more open approach, with Germany on the other extreme, insisting on a tough line on the grounds of “selective justice” against Tymoshenko, an icon of the 2004 Orange Revolution who was imprisoned last year on charges of abuse of office.
A diplomat said that several ministers pleaded that the EU-Ukraine relations should not be “hostage of one person, be it Tymoshenko or Yanukovich”.
The Euro 2012 football championship, which Ukraine co-hosts with Poland from 6 June to 1 July, was also high on the agenda, with some countries calling for a EU boycott at political level.
However, with several countries announcing that they would send political representatives at the matches in Ukraine, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton admitted that the Union was “not at a stage to make a decision”.
The strongest reaction against such a boycott came from Polish President Bronisław Komorowski, who said on 3 May that a Western boycott would send the former Soviet republic back into the arms of Russia.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Council President Herman Van Rompuy said they had no plans to go to Ukraine for the football championship.
But Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told journalists yesterday (14 May) that he failed to see “attendance or non-attendance at football games” as “an instrument of EU policy."
Yanukovich: Don't humiliate Ukraine
Speaking in Donetsk on the same day, Yanukovich said his authorities were lending an attentive ear to foreign politicians in the Tymoshenko case, but were against the country being “humiliated”.
The EU ministers reportedly agreed that more should be done to communicate with Ukrainian citizens that the Union was in favour of developing closer relations and was not shutting its door to the neighbouring country.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov is expected in Brussels today. According to EurActiv sources, his visit was confirmed by his EU hosts only at the last minute.
Diplomatic sources said ministers spoke openly about the risk that a tough line on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich would push the country closer to Russia, eager to put flesh to its plans for a “Eurasian Union” comprising former Soviet states. Russia has also invited Ukraine to join its Customs Union with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, the EU has finalised an association agreement and a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with Ukraine. But the signature of these documents is pending depending on the fate of Tymoshenko and the conditions under which parliamentary elections due in October will be held.
One minister reportedly quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had called Ukraine a “non-accomplished state” - nesosstoyavsheesya gossudarstva. According to some analysts, a Eurasian Union without Ukraine would not fly.
Divided Union
EU ministers have been divided over the strategy to deal with Ukraine. Poland and the Baltic states favour of a more open approach, with Germany on the other extreme, insisting on a tough line on the grounds of “selective justice” against Tymoshenko, an icon of the 2004 Orange Revolution who was imprisoned last year on charges of abuse of office.
A diplomat said that several ministers pleaded that the EU-Ukraine relations should not be “hostage of one person, be it Tymoshenko or Yanukovich”.
The Euro 2012 football championship, which Ukraine co-hosts with Poland from 6 June to 1 July, was also high on the agenda, with some countries calling for a EU boycott at political level.
However, with several countries announcing that they would send political representatives at the matches in Ukraine, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton admitted that the Union was “not at a stage to make a decision”.
The strongest reaction against such a boycott came from Polish President Bronisław Komorowski, who said on 3 May that a Western boycott would send the former Soviet republic back into the arms of Russia.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Council President Herman Van Rompuy said they had no plans to go to Ukraine for the football championship.
But Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told journalists yesterday (14 May) that he failed to see “attendance or non-attendance at football games” as “an instrument of EU policy."
Yanukovich: Don't humiliate Ukraine
Speaking in Donetsk on the same day, Yanukovich said his authorities were lending an attentive ear to foreign politicians in the Tymoshenko case, but were against the country being “humiliated”.
The EU ministers reportedly agreed that more should be done to communicate with Ukrainian citizens that the Union was in favour of developing closer relations and was not shutting its door to the neighbouring country.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov is expected in Brussels today. According to EurActiv sources, his visit was confirmed by his EU hosts only at the last minute.
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