By Martin Banks - 1st December 2011
I am aware that if we shall claim victory, we shall do it together
Kostiantyn Yelisieiev
MEPs have approved plans for an association agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
They adopted a resolution recommending to member states, commission and the external action service that formal negotiations start on an agreement.
Approval comes ahead of a Ukraine-EU summit in Kiev on 19 December. Ukraine, along with Poland, is co-host of next year's European football championships and this will be one of the issues up for debate at the summit.
Relations between the two sides had been tense in recent months following the trial and conviction of former Ukraine leader Yulia Tymoshenko, 50, who was controversially jailed last month for abuse of office.
She was sentenced to seven years over a gas deal with Russia which she oversaw while prime minister in 2009.
Western governments have criticised the sentence, which many believe was politically motivated, and she herself has accused president Viktor Yanukovych, a long-time political opponent, of orchestrating a conspiracy against her.
On Tuesday, Yanukovych announced that she would be allowed out of jail for medical treatment after concern over her health.
Following Thursday's parliamentary vote by MEPs in Brussels, Ukraine's representative to the EU, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, declared, "I heartily welcome today's parliament voting in support of the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
"In the document, parliament has recognised Ukraine as a European state which may apply for EU membership and has called on other EU institutions to do likewise.
"Parliament has proved to be a locomotive power of the European idea. And we cannot but commend the stance parliament has taken towards Ukraine.
"I do hope that the recommendations of the only representative institution of the EU, and thus by definition the most legitimate one, will be duly taken into account by all actors towards making the European integration of Ukraine, our political association and economic integration with the EU, an inevitable reality.
"A key instrument for this is rapid initialling, conclusion and then ratification of the association agreement. I am happy to see that parliament also shares this view."
He went on, "I am aware that if we shall claim victory, we shall do it together. The times are decisive. Recent internal developments in Ukraine revealed a number of improvements needed. Nor the internal situation in the EU is an optimal one.
"That's why today we both are in a desperate need of small victories. The association agreement is precisely the case: a roadmap for Ukraine to gradually overcome fallacies and for the EU to upgrade its relations with a third country to an unprecedented level.
"More resolute we are, more we get."
He said he was looking forward to next month's summit "where we both can get more".
He also recalled that 20 years ago on the 1 December 1991 Ukrainian people made a "major step" at a nation-wide referendum to constitute Ukraine as a full-fledged independent state.
"More than 90 per cent of voters supported the independence of Ukraine proclaimed by the Ukraine parliament in August earlier that year.
"Today the importance of that day is sometimes obliterated, but it was only after 1 December 1991 that the world community recognised Ukraine as a sovereign and independent state, following the expression of will of the Ukrainian people.
"I think that in much the same way the vote of the European parliament on 1 December 2011 will be remembered by the connoisseurs in the Ukrainian European integration matters as a milestone towards Ukraine's full-fledged membership in the EU."
