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Tymoshenko calls on EU to sign Association Agreement with Ukraine

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July 25, 2011, 8:29 p.m. | Ukraine — by Interfax-Ukraine
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Former Ukrainian Premier and Leader of the Batkivschyna party Yulia Tymoshenko has claimed that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is trying to foil the process of signing Ukraine's Association Agreement with the European Union. "I feel that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his team have started using this illegal court process against me and against other opposition political parties not only to eliminate the oppositions but also to attack the process of signing the agreements on political association and a free trade area with the EU," Tymoshenko said during a briefing outside Pechersky District Court of Kyiv.

"I am asking you not to tie, under any circumstances, the current opposition to political repressions in Ukraine, opposition to illegal criminal and legal persecutions of the opposition with the signing of the Association Agreement and a free trade agreement. This is today's goal of President Yanukovych," she read out her letter to the EU leaders.

This is precisely why the current authorities continue the illegal processes against opposition activists - to prompt the relevant reaction from the global democratic community, including the EU, Tymoshenko said.

"Once again, I address the leaders of European countries and the EU with a request: Even if the Ukrainian authorities do not carry out their tasks in full, find the political wisdom and sign the Association Agreement and an agreement on a free trade area by the end of the year, because this would give and opportunity to start a real fight, real resistance to the authoritarianism and corruption in Ukraine," she said.

Tymoshenko added that by making loud statements about his desire to sign the agreements, President Yanukovych was actually doing everything possible to make the signing of the documents impossible.

In addition, according to Tymoshenko, through "the repression of the opposition" the authorities are trying to distract the public from the social and economic situation in Ukraine.
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Anonymous July 25, 2011, 9:35 p.m.    

Yanukovych should be charged with sabotaging Ukraine's entry into the EU.

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Anonymous July 25, 2011, 10:49 p.m.    

I truly hope that rational logic eventually rules.

Tymoshenko does have a point here.

Cutting off Ukraine from the West only harms the citizens of Ukraine; not the Administration &amp; its cronies.

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Anonymous July 26, 2011, 2:52 a.m.    

Please explain.

Ukraine is not &quot;cut off&quot; from the West.

Ukraine's &quot;political elite&quot; is ignoring and has ignored most western standards for democracy for the past 10 years at least.

How would rewarding the &quot;political elite&quot; for NOT doing something they were supposed to do harm the citizens of Ukraine?

Or to put it differently - please explain how a free trade agreement would help or force anyone in Ukraine to implement true democracy, and how such an agreement would help anyone other than oligarchs and the &quot;political elite.&quot;

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Anonymous July 26, 2011, 4:55 a.m.    

Because the oligarchs haven't figured out a way to actually PRODUCE anything to trade without using Ukrainian workers, who despite the scraps they're fed would marginally benefit from showing up to work and collecting a paycheck.... standard supply side logic that the Parody of Republicans,.. er I mean the Party of Regions subscribes to.

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Anonymous July 26, 2011, 7:56 a.m.    

She is so ....innocent? No , she and the others are as guilty as politicians can become. Steal from the rich &amp; give to the poor? Take from the poor and grant to the rich!!! puppet politicians for hire!!

&quot;we guarantee that we shall let our nation be exploited by oligarchs and olisharks as well as let our people be drowned in the hypocritical foriegn propaganda that only benefits the few!!&quot;

Why not commence a research study of how many Ukrainian girls and women had joined the ranks of prostitution during the Ice queen Tymoshenko and Orange peel government?

Then do the same type of research for the current government....

Tymoshenko is as cold as a Si6erian winter, she is like someone from a fairytale of Slavic and nothern European origins....

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Anonymous July 26, 2011, 10:19 a.m.    

Kuchma knew when to stop.

Yulia knows presentation.

Yanukovych stays downwind after he steps in it.

Viktor, get her off your back and at your side.

With all the bad PR Ukraine is getting be smart.

Make Yulia Ukrainian ambassador to the EU,

with a dressing allowance.

See which song she'll sing then.

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Anonymous July 26, 2011, 10:39 a.m.    

never never never !

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Anonymous July 26, 2011, 11:42 a.m.    

Ukrainian ambassador to the EU is an interesting notion.

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Anonymous July 26, 2011, 12:42 p.m.    

Talk about spin.

Quote from the EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Mr Teixeria when attending the first day of Tymishenko's Court Case as reported in the KP.

&quot;He suggested that Brussels sought to continue with a policy of engagement, saying that the Tymoshenko case would not threaten ongoing talks on association and free trade agreements between Kyiv and the 27-nation bloc.

“We do not link these two processes,”

Whatever happens to Tymoshenko, she is not a big enough reason to withdraw from the geopolitical battle with Russia over Ukraine.

His single line quote says exactly that, a quote that was made in the same courtroom as Tymoshenko.

The European Parliament and Ms Tymoshenko's allies in the EPP are rather limited in ability to doing anything about it. The decision made for the AA and DCFTA both have no involvement of the European Parliament. One will be signed off by the EC and the other Member States.

The EPP and European Parliament have no role in either process and have no opportunity to stop either being signed.

Quite simply the European Parliament, EPP and Ms Tymoshenko have no levers to prevent or even threaten on-going negotiations, initialing and eventual signatures.

Spin,spin,spin. If she was jailed tomorrow, the process would continue. There are far bigger geopolitical stakes between the EU and Russia to consider.

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