EU member-states line up to support Association pact with Ukraine

The Visegrad Four, Ireland and Lithuania approved a statement on May 17 that supports the EU leadership signing an Association Agreement with the Ukrainian government at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in late November, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported. In addition, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault stated his government is interested in the EU signing the agreement with Ukraine, said Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius of his visit last week to Paris. The release from prison of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko should “be resolved, but nothing was said about her release being a key condition,” Butkevicius said, as reported by the Baltic News Service on May 16.