Laughter and scorn should be the responses of European leaders to ludicrous conditions being floated for letting imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko go to Germany for medical treatment.
President Viktor Yanukovych, through his supporters, is sending up these two blazingly ridiculous trial balloons: That European Union leaders must recognize the legitimacy of Tymoshenko’s criminal conviction, and that Germany return her to Ukraine to finish out the rest of her seven-year prison sentence, now in its third year, once her medical treatment for spinal problems is finished.
Firstly, her “abuse of office” conviction is not legitimate and should not be recognized for anything other than what it is: political persecution.Secondly, the EU would be betraying its values on human rights and democracy to send Tymoshenko back to the Yanukovych wolves. We do not believe that Merkel, the German chancellor who seems wise to Yanukovych’s ways, would go for such a deal. Tymoshenko, through her exiled husband and her party leaders, has rejected such conditions.
Here’s a compromise both sides should take: Yanukovych lets her go to Germany with no pardon, but attaches no other conditions.
Tymoshenko’s freedom is only one condition for reaching an association and trade agreement next month with the EU. Other astute EU leaders note that Ukraine still has work to do in reining in excess prosecutorial powers and ensuring democratic elections.
As of today, Ukraine’s political leaders have only 24 days to free Tymoshenko and make satisfactory progress on the other issues. A decision on signing is expected by the EU foreign affairs council on Nov. 18, 10 days ahead of a Nov. 28-29 summit. It looks like Pat Cox and Alexander Kwasniewski, the special envoys who have made more than 20 trips to Ukraine to broker a deal, still have a lot more work ahead.
Yanukovych acts confident in his abilities to reach a deal. We hope that he lets the public in on the reason for his optimism soon, because a miscalculation in Vilnius could stall Ukraine’s break to the West for many years to come.
