You're reading: Teixeira: Ukraine should respect democratic values if it wants to join EU

Simferopol – The policy of the European Union towards Ukraine depends on Kyiv's willingness to carry out democratic reforms, says head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, who is finishing his tenure.

"It is not the EU ambassador who decides on the foreign affairs policy of the European Union. And this policy won’t change in the future. And it is not up to the EU ambassador to solve the issue of signing the Association Agreement with Ukraine. This is decided by all 27 members of the EU, who can give their consent to this," he told reporters in Simferopol on Thursday.

Forecasting the development of the situation and the European Union’s attitude to Ukraine, Teixeira said: "We will see in six months or in a year. If, as I hope, as we all hope in the European Union, the situation with democracy, human rights, justice in Ukraine changes for the better, this will solve our current problems."

At the same time, the ambassador stressed that the EU is unlikely to give priority to economic relations with Ukraine over political relations.

"The most important thing for the EU is democratic values," the ambassador said.

He also added that if Ukraine wanted to be part of Europe, it should respect these values.