MEPs support the Association Agreement initialing

As expected, the EU Committee on Foreign Affairs recommended completion of all procedures concerning the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement as soon as possible, with only one condition. “The EU Parliament recommends reaching the progress necessary for the soonest initialing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. It is desirable that this be done by the end of 2011 and in accordance with the requirements stated in the Parliament’s resolution of October 27, 2011, and simultaneously provided that this important initiative within the Eastern Partnership goes along with Ukraine’s responsibility to carry out the necesssary reforms and consolidate democratic values, human rights, and the rule of law.” This is emphasized in the EU Council, European Commission, and European External Action Service draft recommendation, passed at the Committee sitting.

On the one hand, as it has been stated in the recommendations, members of the EU Parliament recognize the right of Ukraine to European perspective, on which Kyiv has lately insisted, but they emphasize the requirement to keep to the democratic standards, the rule of law, and human rights and freedoms in particular. And this abovementioned condition, which can hinder the initialing of the agreement, is the MEPs’ appeal to the president and parliament of Ukraine to provide a possibility for the former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other opposition leaders to participate in the political process now, as well as during the next presidential elections in Ukraine. That this problem is of the utmost importance for the European Parliament is evident from a proposal by a number of EPP MEPs concerning the provision of mechanisms that would allow to temporarily freeze the Association Agreement in case of fundamental values violation.

It is noteworthy that the European Commission believes that there are virtually no conditions for initialing the Association Agreement at the Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv on December 19. This was openly said to The Day by European diplomats. “As long as the present context still exists in Ukraine, or in other words, as long as the situation remains the same, with the opposition leaders kept in prison, there will be no reasons to expect the initialing of the Association Agreement at the EU-Ukraine summit,” said the interlocutor. “Under current conditions, we cannot make this kind of present to Ukraine’s leaders, who would like the agreement to be initialed by the main negotiators on the Ukrainian and European side in front of the cameras in Kyiv,” emphasized the diplomat.

Therefore, the optimism radiated by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems somewhat premature. The Ministry placed a commentary on its website, which reads: “By its decision, the European Parliament’s Committee for Foreign Affairs confirms the possibility of prospective initialing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, with the relevant negotiations on the level of delegations completed on November 11, before the year is out. In this connection, we welcome the acknowledgement expressed in this document of the importance of our country’s European perspective, for the achievement of which the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is considered to be instrumental.”

Our interlocutor also noted that the initialing of the Agreement is possible as long as two conditions are met. First, the release of Tymoshenko, along with other political prisoners, via the decriminalization of Art. 365. Second, passing election legislation according to the recommendations by the Venice Commission. The diplomat also reminded that all political forces in Ukraine had declared the necessity of the introduction of open voting lists. “Therefore the current attempts of the power coalition to void the previous election law, which allowed it to win the election, look strange. The attempts of the ruling coalition to amend election legislation without considering the opposition’s opinion resemble rather a desire to perpetuate their power,” said The Day’s interlocutor.

He believes that if this should ever happen, and the election legislation be changed, then the next parliamentary election in Ukraine, scheduled for October 31, 2012 will be declared illegitimate by the EU. This may entail sanctions against all Ukrainian officials and MPs, involved in the passing of such a law, just as it happened to Belarusians.

Of course, most Ukrainians find this scenario highly undesirable. But, as our interlocutor aptly remarked, a lot depends on Ukrainians themselves, and the continued European integration policy is no exception. Thus, citizens must demonstrate their civic position, instead of looking on while the incumbent regime played its foul games to rig the Constitution and the local election. “Why no one protested while all that was happening?” asks he.

COMMENTARY

Pawel ZALEWSKI (European People’s Party), vice chairman, European Parliament International Trade Committee:

“The EP Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), just like the Committee on International Trade (INTA), has a clear-cut stand. We will recommend that the European Commission initial the Association Agreement with Ukraine, including free trade, before this year is out. This will be the EP’s grand gesture towards Ukraine’s society rather than President Yanukovych. It should be borne in mind that the Agreement is no prize. It is a tool which has to trigger real changes in Ukraine, due to the implementation of European standards.

“As far as the conviction of the former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is concerned, this is a problem in our mutual relations which needs to be solved at the shortest notice.

“The result of today’s vote is a great success of Ukraine’s civic society. Over the recent weeks its representatives have been sending powerful messages to the effect of their unambiguous pro-European choice. They also declared their will to actively participate in the implementation of the Association Agreement, so it is not just words on paper.”