European Forum

EU Commissioner for enlargement concerned over Tymoshenko case

On 7 July Stefan Fuele, the European Union’s commissioner for enlargement and neighbourhood policy repeated European concerns about the use of “selective justice” and possible political persecution by Ukraine’s authorities in a recent wave of criminal charges against opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

In a online statement issued by Fuele’s press service following a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, the commissioner said Brussels and Kyiv “have a shared goal to finalise the negotiations on the Association Agreement and its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area by the end of the year.”

But he also sent another sharp warning to the administration of President Viktor Yanukovych, repeating EU warnings that backsliding on democracy, be it through flawed elections or political persecutions, would be considered a break from the very EU standards that Ukraine says it hopes to adopt in its integration efforts.

Fuele said in the statement that he stressed the importance of “political reforms, particular electoral and judiciary reform.” “I also expressed once more my deep concern at the recent developments in the cases of Mrs Tymoshenko and other members of the former government of Ukraine,” Fuele said. “I recalled the EU's concern at suggestions of political motivation behind these cases. In this context, I emphasised the need to ensure maximum levels of transparency and fairness in investigations, prosecutions and trials,” he added.

In past statements, Fuele and other EU officials have directly warned that closer ties between Ukraine and the EU hang on Kyiv’s commitment to democracy, free speech and rule of law.
But in recent weeks, EU officials – apparently fearful of adopting a policy of isolation which could pull Kyiv back into Moscow’s orbit – have said that concerns over human rights and democracy in Ukraine would be treated separately from economic integration efforts.

Sources: Kyiv Post Photo: Flickr cvrcak1