Tired of repeating themselves

Kommersant Ukraine reports that the latest visit to Ukraine by former European Parliament President Pat Cox and former Polish President Alexander Kwaśniewski is likely to be the last  The two men were delegated by the European Union to seek a way out of the present crisis in relations with Ukraine. In order to return to informal dialogue with the EU, Kyiv must carry out radical changes by 18 April since otherwise the consequences may be irreversible. This, the newspaper says, was to be the message to the President during their meeting with him on Friday.

The visit was the 14th.  On Thursday they once again met with imprisoned former Prime Minister and leader of the Batkivshchyna Party, Yulia Tymoshenko.  The meeting lasted for over two hours, and as always the delegates refused to speak to the press.

Kommersant quotes its sources in Brussels as saying that the visit is likely to be the last and explains that while formally delegated by the European Parliament, they have essentially been intermediaries between the EU and Yanukovych. As reported here, there mission was extended for a further 2 months at the beginning of February.

They are due to report to the President of the European Parliament on 18 April, and Kommersant says that a number of sources have said that it is unlikely the mission will be extended beyond that date unless Kyiv makes significant changes.

Kommersant says that they have previously been told by Štefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement that the problem lies with the lack of visible results from their negotiations with President Yanukovych. “Nobody will give guarantees that the mission will be extended in a situation where we do not see any progress, but in fact observe regress.”

From the report here