Ukraine's efforts to satisfy specified conditions laid down by the EU in order that an Association Agreement be signed in November this year have been half-hearted and wholly unconvincing.
Despite this, your humble blogger considers Ukrainian politicians of all colours have consistently overestimated the desire of the EU to clinch this Association Agreement deal, and the overestime the chances of this taking place.
Some observers claim the EU have 'given up' on Tymoshenko, but by some kind of 'cock-eyed logic' suggest signing of the AA could take place if it was possibly combined with sanctions directed at individuals responsible for persecution of opposition leaders. [Hardly a sound start to any long-term relationship].
Yet everyone is aware that Tymoshenko's imprisonment was ordered solely at the command of the man who became president having received less that 50% of votes cast when he narrowly beat Tymoshenko in the two-horse race for the presidency. It was the narrowness of this victory that drove Yanukovych to eliminate his greatest rival from the political stage.
Now bluff-talking German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made her position crystal-clear:
'Deutsche Welle' reports: "For Ukraine to move closer to the EU it must resolve "a whole series of problems," said Angela Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday, April 17, after talks with Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip. But she stressed that the development of closer relations with Ukraine remains an aim for the EU.
According to Merkel, the case of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is not the only obstacle to the signing of the AA the EU. "In general we are talking about the legal system in Ukraine and respect for human rights and civil liberties" - she said. That's why the signing of the long-agreed document is now frozen.
Was Merkel deliberately spiking Kwasniewski and Cox's guns?
No comments:
Post a Comment