All news

European Commission prepares to sign Association Agreement with Ukraine at Vilnius summit

BRUSSELS, November 20, 20:49 /ITAR-TASS/. The European Commission continues preparation to sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine at the summit in Vilnius on November 28-29, a spokesman for the European Commission told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. He refused to comment on reports of the Czech media that Stefan Fule, the European commissioner for enlargement and neighborhood policy, during his visit to Kiev that ended on Wednesday was confronted with the refusal of Ukrainian President Yanukovich to sign the Association Agreement this year because of exceedingly tough terms being imposed on Kiev.

The spokesman has said the European Commission is aware of these reports but it proceeds from the intention to sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine at the Vilnius summit if Kiev meets all the terms of the EU Council. They include improvement of the election laws and a reform of the judicial system that would exclude cases of selective justice, by which Brussels, specifically, means “the Timoshenko case”. Stefan Fule’s spokesperson Peter Stano so far declined commenting on the results of Fule’s visit to Kiev. He said the European commissioner was on the way back to Brussels and he would first inform the partners and the European Commission leaders of the results of the visit and then a report for the press would be issued.

Linas Linkevicius, the foreign minister of Lithuania presiding over the EU until the end of this year, and the host of the Vilnius summit and the European politician most interested in its success, has commented on the situation.

He confirmed the intention to continue efforts to sign the agreement, noting that the Rada meeting on Thursday would really show how serious Ukraine’s intention to sign the agreement is. He noted that the situation in Ukraine was extremely complicated and not all signals coming from Ukraine should be trusted. He also emphasized special responsibility of President Yanukovich for Ukraine’s right choice.

According to an Itar-Tass report a group of deputies of the European Parliament demanded once again that the European Commission in no case should back on the requirement to drop all accusations of Yulia Timoshenko. Members of the European Parliament believe this is essential for enhancing the level of political competition in Ukraine.