Yalta – The settlement of the issue of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which will help sign the Association Agreement at a summit in Vilnius, will be the permission for her to travel abroad for treatment, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has said.
“We expect a humanitarian and humane gesture. I think that our proposal will be accepted. It is well known: she has to go abroad for surgery and treatment,” he said at the 10th Yalta Annual Meeting on Saturday.
Kwasniewski said he did not expect “any dramatic or radical political decisions.” He said that Tymoshenko is ill and that she needs surgery, therapy and rehabilitation, and added that given her serious distrust in the Ukrainian health sector such treatment should be better conducted abroad.
He recalled said that the settlement of the Tymoshenko problem is one of the three key conditions needed for success in Vilnius at the end of November: judicial reform, including the reform of the prosecutor’s office, the reform of the electoral law and the settlement of the problem of selective justice, which is closely related to the case of Tymoshenko.
However, he said that there would be no compromise on the fulfillment of these conditions.
“The conditions set by the EU should be met – have no doubt. Undoubtedly, you shouldn’t wait until the Germany election is over. Don’t wait for something new. Don’t wait for other moments or considerations. The EU might not be the best organization in the world. But it is absolutely pragmatic and serious. And when we set the requirements they must be met,” Kwasniewski said.
In his opinion, if the agreement is signed in Vilnius, it will be the same important decision for Ukraine as a 1991 referendum on the country’s independence.
“Ukraine has never been as close to the EU as it is now. Now we are not speaking of a year, two years, a decade, until we sign an agreement, we are speaking of days, weeks. The Vilnius summit will take place in less than two months and you will finally enjoy the opportunity to be associated with the European Union. This means that there are serious responsibilities with both parties – and they are very great,” he said.
