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After Snub, Kwasniewski Says EU-Ukraine Deal Is Off

November 21, 2013
by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service

KYIV -- Senior EU envoy Aleksander Kwasniewski has said no deal will be signed between the bloc and Ukraine at a summit next week in Vilnius.

Kwasniewski told Polish media on November 21 that there would be no Association Agreement signed with Ukraine after Ukrainian lawmakers earlier in the day failed to agree on legislation that would allow jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to seek medical treatment abroad -- one the EU's key conditions for signing the agreement with Kyiv.

Ukraine's government also announced it was suspending preparations to sign the agreement with the EU.

A government decree on November 21 said the process was halted in order to fully analyze the impact of the planned agreement on industrial production and trade with Russia.

The decree was signed by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

Russia had been angered by the proposed deal, and has warned Kyiv of trade repercussions.

Ukraine's government also proposed setting up a three-party trade commission between Ukraine, the European Union, and Russia.

Just hours earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had suggested setting up a tripartite commission with Ukraine and the EU but said such a commission could be set up only before any agreement is signed.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia welcomed Ukraine's decision to 'improve and develop trade and economic cooperation' with Russia.

Kwasniewski, who is a Polish former president, and Irish politician Pat Cox have been monitoring Ukraine ahead of the Vilnius summit. Kwasniewski said on November 21 in Warsaw that his mission with Cox 'is over.'

A spokesman meanwhile announced that EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele had canceled a planned visit to Ukraine later the same day.

The EU's Eastern Partnership summit is scheduled on November 28-29 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which currently holds the rotating EU Presidency.

Ahead of the summit, EU officials have repeatedly warned that Ukraine may not have another chance at signing the Association Agreement for several years.

The Ukrainian opposition has accused President Viktor Yanukovych of deliberately stalling on the EU Association Agreement.

But Yanukovych, on a visit to Austria on November 21, said Ukraine will continue on the path to European integration.

He also said Tymoshenko's case could be resolved only within the framework of the law.

'The solution of the Tymoshenko issue is only possible within the framework of the Ukrainian law,' Yanukovych said. 'I have stressed this repeatedly.'

The opposition earlier in the day reiterated calls for Yanukovych to pardon Tymoshenko.

With reporting by AFP and Interfax

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-tymoshenko- bill-rejected/25175222.html

Copyright (c) 2013. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.