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Timoshenko issue main obstacle to EU integration - Yanukovich

The Timoshenko issue” should be considered separately from the country’s European integration aspirations

MUNICH, February 4 (Itar-Tass) — Ukraine is making every effort for the country’s integration into the European Union, President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich said here on Friday at a business lunch of the 48th Munich Conference on Security Policy.

In his view, not a single previous Ukrainian government can boast making a greater contribution to the implementation of the country’s course towards European integration than the present one. “I have every moral right to say that what all we are doing now is a good job. The only obstacle we have on this way is the issue of ex-Prime Minister Timoshenko,” the president said.

Yanukovich said that both the current government and the opposition are supporters of Ukraine’s integration into Europe, but “the Timoshenko issue” should be considered separately from the country’s European integration aspirations. “There is only, as they say, political turmoil, such as in every country during the political struggle. And there is no disagreement in which direction to move,” the president said.

On Friday and Saturday (February 3-4) the Ukrainian president is on a working visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, where he takes part in the 48th Munich Conference on Security Policy. Yanukovich is expected to take the floor during the panel discussion “Energy, Resources and the Environment: New Security Paradigms,” which will be held within the conference framework. His visit program also envisages a number of bilateral meetings.