EU to Ukraine: No room for compromise on values

President Viktor Yanukovych said Ukraine’s parliamentary election in October would allay EU concerns and have the way for a long-awaited and frozen Association Agreement to be signed “soon,” according to media reports from the 9th annual Yalta European Strategy conference, Ukraine’s top level discussion forum. EU officials were not convinced. In a joint statement, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, European Parliament Foreign Policy Committee Chair Elmar Brok and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Ukraine’s issues with selective justice need to be addressed before the European Union will move ahead with an Association Agreement. The three EU officials said there should be no room in EU-Ukraine relations for compromise on values.

Brad Wells: That there is a gap between what is being said by Ukrainian and EU officials on their relationship is not surprising – but the size of the chasm is. Yanukovych seems unwilling to consider EU concerns as legitimate, let alone take action to counteract the criticism. Early observation reports on the election environment are so far not supportive of Yanukovych’s optimism. We continue to believe that EU-Ukraine relations will remain cordial but be largely devoid of meaningful progress for the foreseeable future.