Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools
Sections
You are here: Home Breaking news EU, Ukraine sign deal for aid and reform

EU, Ukraine sign deal for aid and reform

31 May 2011, 16:45 CET
— filed under: , ,

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union and Ukraine signed a new deal for Brussels to grant more financial aid in exchange for "bottom up" political reform as the ex-Soviet republic considers a future EU membership bid.

EU neighbourhood commissioner Stefan Fuele and Ukraine deputy prime minister Sergiy Klyuyev inked the contract which will see 17 million euros head east on top of an existing 12-million investment by the European Commission.

Fuele specifically avoided demands for top-down change in Ukraine at a time when leading EU figures have criticised a Kiev court for issuing an arrest warrant for former Ukraine premier Yulia Tymoshenko.

Neither man took questions after a ceremonial signing in Brussels, Fuele saying economic integration would also "strengthen participative governance" but would focus on involvement from the ground up, an approach "too often ignored."

"Government is not just about reform at national level," Fuele added.

European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek was particularly critical of former Orange Revolution leader Tymoshenko's questioning by the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office last week, a recurrent event in recent months.

Klyuyev said he would hold separate talks with EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht on cooperation on energy matters.

Ukraine is a major transit country for Russian gas, a much-needed resource across the EU, and energy remains "outstanding issue" as Kiev tip-toes towards future EU integration.

Ukraine's leader Viktor Yanukovych has said his administration aimed to take Ukraine towards EU membership and said it would be "realistic" for the two sides to sign an agreement on a visa-free regime from 2012.

But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier in May bluntly told Ukraine it was time for Kiev to decide whether it wanted closer ties with its neighbour Russia or Brussels.

"You cannot be everywhere," Medvedev said. "You cannot sit on two chairs, you have to make some choice," he added of whether ex-Soviet Ukraine could instead join a customs bloc Russia is building together with neighbouring Kazakhstan and Belarus.


Document Actions