BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union expressed concern Tuesday about the political turmoil in Ukraine and urged both sides to show responsibility and moderation. However, it said the crisis had no immediate impact on negotiations for closer political and economic ties.
European Commission spokeswoman Christiane Hohmann said the EU did not intend to intervene in the standoff between Ukraine’s president and prime minister.
“We do not consider the situation at the moment to need influence from outside,” Hohmann told reporters. “We think it’s a domestic affair that needs to be sorted out in Ukraine itself.”
Ukraine’s political standoff has provoked concern in the EU over the stability in a neighbor with 47 million people which is becoming increasingly important as a transit route for western Europe’s oil and gas supplies from Russia and the Caspian region.
Germany, which holds the rotating EU presidency, called on Ukrainian leaders to “settle their current differences on domestic policy in a manner which complies with the constitution and democratic rules.”
“This requires moderation and a willingness to reach political compromise from all those involved,” the German government added in a statement on behalf of the EU.
The statement said the EU hopes the current turmoil will not harm relations between the 27-nation bloc and Ukraine. Hohmann said a round of negotiations that opened Monday on a new cooperation agreement between the EU and Ukraine were not affected.
“At the moment it doesn’t have any impact at all,” she said. EU aid projects in Ukraine were also unaffected, she said, but added that the two sides should find a “peaceful solution” to the crisis to enable the country to continue reforms designed it bring it closer to the West.
The EU last month approved a $660 million aid package for Ukraine over the next four years, a significant increase in funding.
The head of the EU’s delegation in Kyiv was due to attend a briefing by the Ukrainian president’s office later Tuesday along with other ambassadors, Hohmann said.
A dispute between Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko has plunged Ukraine into the most serious political crisis since the 2004 Orange Revolution. Thousands of the prime minister’s supporters streamed into the Ukrainian capital Tuesday to protest the president’s order late Monday to dissolve parliament and call early elections.
Although the EU is negotiating closer economic and political ties with Ukraine, it has rebuffed Ukraine’s requests to be considered as a candidate for EU membership.
