Ukrainian PM looks for green light on EU membership

KYIV – Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko hascalled on the EU to send a clear message to Ukraine about what itsmembership prospects are.

Speaking in Kyiv on Monday, she told theParliament.com, “We expectcertain serious steps towards signing the free trade agreement andnew enhanced agreement and we look forward to the EU flashing agreen light and showing the way forward.”

On 16 May Ukraine will formally become a member of the world tradeorganisation (WTO) and has, since February, been negotiation a freetrade agreement (FTA) with the EU.

The FTA is part of a 'new enhanced agreement' being hammered outbetween the two sides, which will see closer political as well ascommercial ties being strengthened between the EU andUkraine.

The crucial issue for Kyiv, though, is whether a new agreement willcontain any reference to membership, a subject on which the EUremains tight-lipped.

“The free trade agreement will become part and parcel of the newenhanced agreement, which will include some sort of politicalassociation with the EU, which will help us in our bid for EUmembership,” Tymoshenko said.

But Ian Boag, head of the EU’s delegation to Ukraine, is clear.“This agreement is not a stepping-stone for membership, but nothingexcludes membership.

“One of the outstanding issues is how this agreement will defineUkraine’s future relations with the EU. This is something which hasyet to be worked out.”

According to opinion polls conducted by the Razumkov centre, aKyiv-based think-tank, most Ukrainians (an average of 50 per cent)support EU membership, and since 2005, Ukraine has opened its doorsto EU visitors, establishing visa-free entry to the country for EUcitizens.

However, the visa facilitation agreement on the EU’s side – inoperation since 1 January this year – has not been as effective aswas hoped. According to Oleksandr Sushko of the Institute ofEuro-Atlantic cooperation, another Ukrainian think-tank, the visaagreement has “quite limited impact” and shows the lack ofpolitical will on the EU’s side to improve conditions for Ukrainianvisa applicants.

As it stands, he says, Ukrainian citizens have to face a maze ofpaperwork, he says, as well as hidden charges by intermediarycompanies that process the applications and loose wording thatmakes getting long-term and multi-entry visas extremelydifficult.

Of course, there still remains the problem of tackling corruptionand political instability in the country, issues that Ukraine hasnot forgotten, says foreign minister Volodymyr Ogryzko.

“We have got to get rid of corruption, which is a consequence ofour socialist past. I do hope that we will have a very concretesignal from the EU that Ukraine will be in the nearest future be anEU member state,” he told journalists during Kyiv’s Europe Daycelebrations on Sunday.

Tymoshenko added, “It is very difficult to promote transparentinstitutions and a healthy relationship between business andgovernment.

“The resistance that we face is colossal but we stand fast. Thisgovernment has always been strong on its legs.”

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