Association Agreement decision could be postponed till 2014

   Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has said that the EU could defer the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement until 2014 if Ukraine does not fulfil all the necessary requirements before the Vilnius Summit in November.

Speaking on PolsatNews, Sikorski called on the Ukrainian authorities to not drag their feet with implementation of the EU requirements.  Sikorski said that the agreement could be signed at the same time as analogous agreements with Georgia and Moldova which are expected to be initialled at the summit.   Sikorski has called Moldova a good example for other countries.

“The alternative is that we sign with Ukraine next year”, he said , commenting on the possibility that the agreement cannot be signed at the end of November.

Sikorski said that the release of imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko remains in question/

“It depends on Ukraine whether it implements the conditions for association with the EU and moves in a direction which can lead to membership of the EU. Those are the stakes. We hope that Ukraine’s President will do what is needed so that the country takes that road.”

He said that the failure to sign the agreement in Vilnius would be shameful “for those who promised this”.  Sikorski mentioned three areas which need to be carried through: reform of the Public Prosecutor; electoral legislation; and selective justice “namely the use of the judicial system for the elimination of political enemies.”

UNIAN points out that a number of EU officials have previously stated that if the agreement is not signed in November this year, it could only be signed after the next presidential elections in 2015.

From a report by UNIAN