EU Foreign Affairs Council to assess today Ukraine Association

The EU Foreign Affairs Council will meet today in Luxembourg to assess the Ukrainian government’s ability to fulfill its 12 requirements for signing the Association Agreement at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius on November 28-29, the Kommersant-Ukraine newspaper reported. Numerous requirements haven’t been fulfilled, including improving the business climate, approving an election code and arranging for the release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, among others. The Council is willing to overlook Ukraine’s failures but won’t accept anything short of Tymoshenko’s release, the Kommersant newspaper reported. The Council will reach its final decision on whether to sign the agreement at its November 18 meeting.

Ukrainian MP Mykola Rudkovskiy registered a bill on October 18 that would enable a judge to issue a ruling allowing Tymoshenko to seek medical treatment abroad without having her sentence to affected, as would be the case under a pardon. The bill echoed a proposal made by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych the day before, “Today in Ukraine there’s no a law that would allow Tymoshenko to travel abroad … Most likely, it will be a court that will reach a decision on the departure’s conditions and preservation of certain guarantees.” Yet the bill was removed from the parliament’s website by the end of the day, Kommersant reported. The Fatherland party criticized the bill for being the latest attempt by the Yanukovych administration and the ruling Party of Regions to avoid a pardon of Tymoshenko, as demanded by the EU.

Zenon Zawada: The ruling majority is continuing to offer alternatives to pardoning Tymoshenko, trying to squeeze concessions from the EU in any way it can. We see the EU’s demand for a pardon, and the Yanukovych administration’s disinterest in offering it, as the crux of the final hurdle in resolving the Tymoshenko puzzle. We find credible Kommersant’s assessment that the Association Agreement hinges on Tymoshenko’s release. But nothing is certain when it comes to Ukrainian politics. We believe the EU’s pro-Ukraine lobby will do everything it can to convince the EU leadership to go forward with the agreement when a decision will inevitably be made at the last minute, which is the ultimate destination that current events are moving towards.