You're reading: Tymoshenko hopes prosecutors will let her visit Brussels

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister and Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko has said that she is planning to visit Brussels after the New Year holidays at the invitation of Secretary General of the European People's Party (EPP) Antonio Lopez-Isturiz.

"I think that after the New Year holidays I will accept an invitation from the secretary general and the president of the EPP to visit Brussels in order to analyze the implementation of resolutions on the erosion of democracy in Ukraine, which were adopted by the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, given that Ukraine is a member of the Council of Europe," she told reporters before being questioned at the Prosecutor General’s Office on Wednesday.

Tymoshenko stressed the need to maintain a dialog with European partners "ahead of signing an agreement on political association between Ukraine Europe."

"I think that a country in which political opponents are arrested every day, journalists are pressurized, and [protesters] are arrested… needs a serious dialog with its European partners," she said.

Tymoshenko also added: "A ban on my travel has really been imposed."

She noted that if she wants to leave the place of her residence, she should request a respective permit at the prosecutor’s office.

"I’m sure that I’ll get such a permit in order to meet with European politicians," Tymoshenko said.

As reported, the EPP secretary general invited Tymoshenko to visit Brussels in January 2011 in order to meet with leading European politicians.

"We are inviting you to visit Brussels in January to meet with leading European politicians and to coordinate joint action to support democracy in Ukraine," he said in a phone conversation with Tymoshenko.

Tymoshenko was banned from travelling outside Kyiv and is regularly summoned to the Prosecutor General’s Office for questioning. She was charged with misspending funds allocated under the Kyoto Protocol.