Europe and Ukraine

The EU stands by the new leader in Kiev and will keep providing Ukraine with all the support it needs.

Valentin Țigău, 28.05.2014, 13:16

On Tuesday in Brussels, the EU leaders called on Russia to cooperate with the new president of Ukraine, Petro Porosenko, to pull out the Russian troops deployed on the border with Ukraine and to prevent separatists and weapons from entering that country. In a joint declaration made public after the summit, “the 28” encourage Moscow to engage in an open and honest dialogue to find a solution to the crisis. Here is European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso:

“…the central message of the statement we have agreed on Ukraine is important because it shows that we stand behind the legitimately elected new leadership and we will continue to give our full support to stabilize the country and increase its resilience to external pressures. “

The European support will mainly target the progress on constitutional reform, economic stability and an energy security. The EU leaders also urged president Porosenko, and Kiev authorities in general, to start constitutional and decentralization reforms right away. Although the declaration makes no reference to fresh sanctions on Russia, it does hint at the specific sanctions already imposed by the EU. The 28 have agreed to keep on working on the preparation of economic sanctions, stage three, for them to be ready for implementation, if need may be.

The EU is also worried about the constant violation of human rights in Crimea, since its annexation by Russia in March this year. The EU leaders have stated they will never recognize the annexation. On the other hand, the EU is looking for solutions to ease the burden of Ukraine’s debt to Russia in the energy field. To that end, European Commission representatives are attending the Russian — Ukrainian negotiations on the issue, hosted by Berlin. European Commissioner Gunther Oettinger has announced that an expected outcome of these negotiations would be the payment of one installment of Ukraine’s debt, worth 2 billion dollars, with money from the IMF, the World Bank or the European Bank. The Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaite, has stated that it is likely for

Ukraine and the EU to sign an agreement on closer economic ties at the EU summit on June 27th. Kiev and the EU have signed the political chapters of an association agreement, but the commercial part has been postponed until after the presidential elections in Ukraine.