Reports coming from Ukraine cast doubt on the reality of the intentions of the Ukrainian authorities to seek membership of the European Union, a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, Elmar Brok, has said.
"It’s necessary to think about what [incumbent Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych and [second Ukrainian President Leonid] Kuchma said: Does Ukraine want to join our organization? I’m not sure about it anymore, and we need to get assurances whether it is so," he said during the discussion with Kuchma and Yanukovych at the seventh annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES), which ended last weekend.
"You can have any political system. But legality and equality before the law are a very important thing for investment and cooperation. It does not matter whether it’s a presidential or parliamentary system. The question is whether there is an independent judicial system and whether there are chances for the opposition," Brok said.
He said that the statement announced at the meeting that the chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has an influence on the government, the Constitutional Court, and is also a media mogul provoked concern, because such a combination of powers was threatening.
"It’s necessary to have stability, but not the one when it’s impossible to change the government. A flexible stability is needed so that not only one party can participate in elections, as the courts say, while another party cannot participate in them," Brok said.
"I hope the information I’ve heard is misleading, and the situation will be resolved," he said.
He also stressed the importance of continuing the negotiations with Ukraine, particularly on the creation of a free trade area. In his opinion, an open European market with 500 million consumers for Kyiv should be more interesting than alternative neighboring markets.
As reported, some media last week publish an alleged statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton’s that Ukraine does not want to join the EU. Ashton later said she had been misquoted.
