The final press conference of the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, has just wrapped up today. The two-day summit drew together leaders of the European Union and six former Soviet republics, including Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, while reaffirming the EU position that Ukraine can still sign an association agreement if it meets all conditions, hinted that EU wont offer anything more to Ukraine. President Viktor Yanukovych had been seeking some $27 billion a year from the EU in transitional support.
“The EU will not go into dealings with Ukraine,” Grybauskaite. “All the necessary benchmarks are known to Ukraine, there will be no new benchmarks attached.”
European Commission President Juan Manuel Barroso said at the final press conference that the offer of a political and trade pact to Ukraine remains “on the table” provided that the Ukrainian government meets its commitments to the EU, including those to make the judicial system fairer, the election laws more democratic and to end selective prosecution of people, such as the imprisonment of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
“We are ready as the EU are ready to sign provided the benchmarks we set are met. We’ve made a lot of progress in meeting those benchmarks,” Barroso said.
Right away, Barroso said that Ukraine save 500 million euros a year in import duties to the EU, and studies have shown that nations with free trade agreements with the EU grow 6 percent a year.
“It is in the long-term interest of the Ukrainian people and it’s the strong wish of the Ukrainian people” as the street demonstrations in Ukraine have shown since Nov. 21, when the protests tarted, Barroso said.
“We are on the side of the Ukrainian people,” Barroso said. He said that Ukrainians understand the strategic nature of of EU integration and how importance that it is to have closer ties between the EU and Ukraine.
“The times of limited sovereignty are over in Europe,” Barroso said, rejecting Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s offer of trilateral negotiations among Russia, the EU and Ukraine.
“We have to set aside short-term political calculations and we may not give in to external pressure, not the least from Russia. That’s why we want to emphasize our poltical readiness to sign sooner or later this association agreement.”
