Ukraine: EU assurances could defuse Georgia conflict

Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister has said that success at the upcoming EU-Ukraine summit could offer stability and encouragement to its neighbouring countries.

But, he warned, if the EU doesn’t offer Ukraine some positive signals on membership soon, it will send a message to Russia that it can use military might to influence policy.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels on Thursday, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev said there could be no more “business as usual” after the crisis in Georgia and urged EU leaders to “wake up” to the reality of the current political landscape.

“The situation in Georgia is a real threat to Ukrainian security,” he said. “Georgia shows that we need to move quickly.”

He called on the EU to reach a consensus before the summit with Ukrainian leaders on 9 September in Evian, or face negative repercussions for Ukraine’s neighbours.

“If the summit is not a success it will send negative signals to Georgia, Belarus and Moldova and will send encouraging signals to Russia that it can influence EU policy.

“Everybody in our region is looking to what will happen at the European summit.”

Yelisieiev, Ukraine’s chief negotiator on a new EU agreement, assured journalists that his country was not looking for automatic or immediate membership, but merely “a political signal that the future of Ukraine lies in the EU”.
 
Both Yelisieiev and Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko have repeatedly slammed the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the current framework for relations between the two sides.

“The events in Georgia have shown that the ENP has completely failed. We have been saying for years that the ENP is nothing,” Yelisieiev reiterated on Thursday.

In Evian, Ukraine is seeking an “association” agreement with the 27-member bloc, which would include (as well as recognition of Ukraine’s EU aspirations) a free trade area and the possibility to open up a dialogue on visa-free travel to the EU.

However, a perspective for membership is only possible under the EU’s enlargement strategy and not the ENP, as external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said just last month:

“It’s clear – although Ukraine never likes to hear it – that it is a country within the European neighbourhood policy. It does not have a membership perspective, but we should not prejudge the future.”

Ukraine says it is counting on French president Nicolas Sarkozy to convince member states ahead of 9 September to grant Ukraine assurances on membership.

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