Ukraine changes tone on EU enlargement
Ukraine president Viktor Yushchenko said in Brussels on Thursday (8 March) it is more important to focus on economic integration than EU enlargement in a change of tone from previous statements, with Brussels and Kiev also keen to work together on political change in an increasingly unstable Belarus.
"In my opinion there is no use now in overloading the topic of our bilateral relations," Mr Yushchenko said, after meeting EU top diplomat Javier Solana a few hours before the start of the EU summit. "I am trying to make our relations constructive and not even to publicly discuss what will be the name of that agreement," he added, referring to talks on a new EU-Ukraine bilateral treaty.
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The statement contrasts with Mr Yushchenko's previous strong calls for an EU enlargement promise. When he met European Commission president Barroso in Helsinki last October the Ukrainian leader said "[we] need to see the European doors open" prompting Mr Barroso to reply bluntly "Ukraine is not ready, and we are not ready" for accession talks.
In the background, Ukrainian diplomats in Brussels are still pushing for the new bilateral treaty to be called an "association agreement" on the model of treaties struck with the EU10 states before the 2004 round of enlargement. But external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said equally bluntly this week the name will not fly as it could be taken to mean "the beginning of [EU] membership."
Mr Yushchenko's internal position in Ukraine has considerably weakened since he swept to power on the wings of the Orange Revolution in late 2004. His recent nomination of Volodymyr Ohryzko for the post of foreign minister was rejected by parliament, with no foreign minister currently in place to handle the EU-Ukraine treaty negotiations which began on Monday.
"We have confidence in the leadership of the president and we hope the process of economic reform will continue. That will be very important for bilateral relations with the EU," Mr Solana said, having himself played a key role in brokering the handover of power in 2004, as well as being a personal friend of Mr Yushchenko and a celebrity in Ukraine.
Mr Yushchenko's political problems run deeper than the foreign minister issue however. His revolution-era arch-rival, Viktor Yanukovych, was freely elected prime minister last year and has since stalled the process of Ukraine's NATO accession as well as brokering secret energy deals with Moscow that could end up seeing the Ukrainian pipeline system sold off to Gazprom.
Mr Yushchenko and his former ally, ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, recently teamed up afresh to push for early elections to unseat Mr Yanukovych, with the new "Orange" coalition also keen to roll back constitutional reforms that saw the balance of power swing from the presidential to the prime ministerial office since 2004.
"None of the political victories of the Orange Revolution will be lost," Mr Yushchenko said in Brussels. He added that "the domestic situation is now quite urgent" and expressed hopes that EU influence "can be helpful in stabilising the internal political situation, as it was helpful two years ago [in the Orange Revolution]. Let's see this process not as a tragic one but as a test for [Ukraine]."
Ukraine and EU to tackle Belarus
The two men also discussed how to push forward political reform in Ukraine's neighbour Belarus, with Mr Solana saying he sees Kiev as an important go-between for Brussels and Minsk.
"I have a team of people today in Minsk and we'll have an analysis when they return. We think probably to have some opportunities to develop relations between Ukraine and Belarus," Mr Solana said, with his senior aides Helga Schmid and Pirkka Tapiola making the trip. "That's in the interest of Ukraine and Poland, of [Belarus] neighbours - that we get more involved in that country."
The visit is taking place amid Lithuanian, Polish, Ukrainian and Georgian discussions on how to provide an "exit strategy" for Belarus president Aleksander Lukashenko and secure Belarus' independence in the face of Russian interest in absorbing the satellite state. A future top-level visit by a Russophone ex-EU president to Minsk is one idea doing the rounds.
Meanwhile, the situation in Belarus is heating up: on Thursday morning Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported that an email signed "KGB co-workers, Belarusian patriots" was sent to underground Belarusian press, saying that a 6 February meeting between Lukashenko and his top officials discussed the threat of a Russian-orchestrated putsch.
Lukashenko flew into a rage, shouting and cursing - the email said - and called for his secret police to "use all available means to...neutralise" a list of 186 opposition figures in the country.