Ukraine's opposition leaders pledged their support to the government in approval of key legislation needed to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union in November.
“Ukrainian opposition
stands ready to cooperate in order to pass the needed legislation. We believe
that this treaty is urgent, important and this is the only way how Ukraine can
be really independent,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, leader of Batkivshchyna party said
at a briefing in Brussels on Aug. 28.
Yatseniuk, as well as
leader of Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) party Vitali
Klitschko, took part in a session of the European Parliament’s foreign
commission hosted by German Elmar Brok. Ukraine’s recent trade war with Russia
and the progress in signing the Association Agreement were on the session’s
agenda.
On the same day,
Chief of the National Security Council Andriy Klyuev, who is in charge of the
process of European integration in the Ukrainian government, visited Brussels
to discuss the same issues with Stefan Fuele, the EU commissioner for
Enlargement.
Ukraine has to
address three key issues to be able to sign AA with EU on Nov. 27. These
include selective persecution and particularly the release of Yulia Tymoshenko
from prison, reform of the prosecution and electoral reform.
Both Brok and Fuele
noted certain progress in some of the areas, but insisted that Ukraine is
expected to press on with the agenda in the next two months. In particular,
Ukraine’s government has submitted a draft law on the functioning of
prosecution office for examination to the Venice Commission, the European
Council’s advisory body, composed of independent experts in the field of
constitutional law.
Also, Ukraine’s
justice ministry has held a number of round tables on improving the electoral
legislation, which was also noted by the European partners. Fuele, however, said
it was not enough and that “the EU expects to see unequivocal and concrete
elements of progress in the coming weeks.”
“I have emphasized to
Mr Klyuyev the need to ensure determined action and tangible progress on all
the benchmarks set out in the December Foreign Affairs Council (FAC)
conclusions,” Fuele said.
Klitschko, like Yatseniuk,
reiterated his party’s willingness to cooperate. “Our first priority is to sign an Association
Agreement in Vilnius,” he said.
UDAR and Batkivchshyna together hold 134 seats in
parliament. Combined with the ruling Party of Regions’ 207 votes, it would be
more than enough to approve pro-European legislation in the 450-seat
parliament.
Brok, said that if Ukraine makes progress on its
commitments, Europe will be quite happy to sign the deal with Ukraine, which
would be unprecedented for its depth of intergeneration with Europe for a
non-member nation.
“We will support a signature in Brussels, and we will
ratify it afterwards quite fast if the Ukrainian government made it possible
for us to sign,” Brok said.
Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can
be reached at katya.gorchinskaya@gmail.com.
