The European Union will in the near future determine the format of its presence in Ukraine with the aim of providing assistance in overcoming the political crisis, Foreign Minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevicius has said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“I’m sure we won’t stop our dialogue, as Ukraine is a very important
country. But we will decide how to behave in the dialogue with Ukraine,”
he said.
Linkevicius also said that the EU representatives should continue their presence in Ukraine.
“I came with this aim – we want to assist the dialogue, as Ukraine
earlier declared numerous times its intention to sign the Association
Agreement with the EU,” the minister said.
“The second aspect is security – planning something while the
confrontation is growing has no prospects, as consequences can be bad.
That’s why we hope that our presence can help to hold it back and find a
reasonable solution to the situation. Security is the main thing for
me. And if we can bring at least a bit of stableness and calmness, we
have to be here. I should stress that we have no intention to intrude in
domestic discussions – that’s no business of ours,” he said.
While commenting on the European Parliament’s initiative to create an
EU high-level mission, the minister said that “various options exist
and the possible resumption of the EP’s observation mission of Pat Cox
and Alexander Kwasniewski also has been discussed.”
“But we have to discuss this with our Ukrainian colleagues. We need a
dialogue. In fact two monologues are held in Ukraine. The government
talks and the opposition talks, but we need to have a common
understanding of the role of this mission. We are ready. And this issue
has been raised. We will support any decision acceptable for everyone.
We will take this decision in the near future,” Linkevicius said.
He also said that EU representatives would constantly be present in Ukraine.
“I will leave on Sunday and someone will come then. I don’t know who
exactly, but I’ve told my colleagues that I’m ready to come before it’s
my turn again. And when our presidency for the EU ends, this does not
mean the end of our support for Ukraine,” he said.
