You're reading: Ambassador Teixeira: EU shocked at situation with Tymoshenko, Lutsenko

LVIV – The European Union's attention is currently focused on Kachanivska penal colony, where former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is serving her prison term, Head of the European Union's Delegation to Ukraine Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira has said.

"We see that the authorities ignore our concerns, we see the deterioration of the situation and understand that without addressing this issue (of application of justice for political purposes) it will be difficult to resume the process of rapprochement proposed by Ukraine after the ‘Orange Revolution’," he said at the meeting with journalists in Lviv on April 26.

According to the ambassador, the issues of Tymoshenko, Lutsenko and others are the most outrageous and shocking in terms of compliance with European standards.

"I am confident that if left unresolved these issues will have a very strong impact on the process of signing the association agreement. This is a decision each of the 27 EU countries will make independently, and most countries have a very strong stand on this issue," the ambassador said.

On the whole, over two years the image and perception of Ukraine by the EU in all the areas has strongly deteriorated, the ambassador said.