Hard-pressed: EU door ‘remains open’ for Ukraine
Fuele says union will not give up on Ukrainian people, despite refusal of latter to sign landmark agreement.
BRUSSELS:
European Union’s (EU) Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said that the union will not give up on the Ukrainian people, despite the refusal of the latter to sign a landmark agreement. “The doors remain open,” Fuele told a group of journalists. “We’re not giving up on the Ukrainian people.” Earlier this week, Ukraine refused to sign the agreement appearing to yield to Russian pressure. Fuele said that the agreement could eventually be signed at an EU-Ukraine summit in the first half of 2014, if Kiev decides to have a change of heart. He was warned by President Viktor Yanukovych at talks in Kiev, on Tuesday, that Ukraine had doubts about signing an Association Agreement with the EU on November 29 2013. The president ‘was concerned about the economic situation’ and believed that a pause in negotiations with Brussels would enable it to address problems that had caused a fall of some 25% in its exports to Russia.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2013.
European Union’s (EU) Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said that the union will not give up on the Ukrainian people, despite the refusal of the latter to sign a landmark agreement. “The doors remain open,” Fuele told a group of journalists. “We’re not giving up on the Ukrainian people.” Earlier this week, Ukraine refused to sign the agreement appearing to yield to Russian pressure. Fuele said that the agreement could eventually be signed at an EU-Ukraine summit in the first half of 2014, if Kiev decides to have a change of heart. He was warned by President Viktor Yanukovych at talks in Kiev, on Tuesday, that Ukraine had doubts about signing an Association Agreement with the EU on November 29 2013. The president ‘was concerned about the economic situation’ and believed that a pause in negotiations with Brussels would enable it to address problems that had caused a fall of some 25% in its exports to Russia.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2013.