You're reading: Dutch ambassador: Yanukovych needs to show interest in his people’s fate to be reelected in 2015

The European Union is ready to help Ukraine on its path towards the European integration, but the authorities should demonstrate their intention to make positive changes and hold reforms, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Ukraine Pieter Jan Wolthers has said.

“If President [of Ukraine Viktor] Yanukovych wants to be reelected for the
second term in 2015, he should demonstrate that the most important thing for him
is the interests of his people, that he puts them above all in his work. The
European Union, of course, is willing to help Ukrainians to achieve a better
life in a more democratic society. But for this we need a clear signal that your
country is determined to hold positive changes, real reforms and make real
progress,” the diplomat said in an interview with the Dzerkalo Tyzhnia. Ukraine
newspaper published on Saturday.

According to him, it would be wrong to assume that the EU supports former
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and does not like President Viktor Yanukovych
and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov’s government. “We are on the side of justice.
And we do not like what we see – certain trials against politicians are
politically motivated. I would like to see Ukraine looking forward, not looking
constantly back to settle all accounts of the past. Your country has a lot of
work to do, and time is short,” Wolthers stressed.

“With regard to sanctions, in my opinion, it is not a good time for them.
This is not something that is necessary today. What we need is the cooperation
between the two parties to achieve a goal that at least in words we have in
common – the European integration of Ukraine,” the ambassador said.

He also assured that the EU does not impose the European integration on
Ukraine. “We’re just trying to show the benefits of a certain direction to
Ukraine. We want the country to make its choice independently, to decide on the
European integration for its own sake,” the diplomat said.