It seems that the report, co-authored by Pat Cox and Alexander Kwasniewski, was extremely positive for Ukraine, considering that the nation still has top opposition figures in prison and chaos in the rest of politics.

What allowed for such positive report is the release from prison of  former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, and the Cox-Kwasniewski mission has a lot of credit to take for his release, which was duly noted by European Parliament President Martin Shultz. 

On the day of the report, Kwasniewski looked and sounded more positive than he has been recently. It’s obvious that Lutsenko’s release has given a vast emotional boost to him and many of his colleagues in Europe. As a result of this success, even the stanchest skeptics like parliamentarian Elmar Brok reversed his position that the mission should be ended now because its work has no effect.

But it’s just as painfully obvious that what the envoys achieved is not enough for Ukraine to be able to sign an Association Agreement with Europe in November, which would make its European choice irreversible.

Yulia Tymoshenko, the nation’s top political prisoner, is still serving her seven-year term, and needs rescuing. This is a much more challenging task for the mission because it’s personal for President Viktor Yanukovych. They will need all the luck and help they can get to move the case even an inch.

But it’s not all. There are 11 key areas that the Europeans will track on top of the Tymoshenko case. They require systematic work by parliament and individual parties in close cooperation with their European piers. Inspired by the Cox-Kwasniewski mission success, Shultz initiated an additional group that will concentrate on that work. We welcome the effort with open heart, and hope that it helps Ukraine and Europe to achieve the historic goal of signing the association agreement this year.