BRUSSELS – The European Union has dismissed the Foreign Ministry's complaints about Head of the European Commission Delegation to Ukraine Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, and expressed about the allegations made against the EU official.
Maja Kocijancic, the spokeswoman for EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton, said that the EU was disappointed by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s claims that Teixeira’s statements about Ukraine’s domestic affairs were beyond his diplomatic remit.
"These comments are ungrounded and unjustified attacks on the personal integrity and professionalism of Ambassador Teixeira. We categorically reject them," Kocijancic said.
According to the spokeswoman, the ambassador still enjoys the full confidence of the EU, and has the support of Ashton and the European External Action Service.
The Information Policy Department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry earlier expressed surprise at public statements made by the head of the European Union’s Delegation to Ukraine.
The Foreign Ministry said "issues ranging from upcoming elections for Kyiv mayor to the state of the investment climate in Ukraine, which are usually discussed by Ukrainian citizens, politicians and experts, have become the subject for comments and evaluations by a person whose official function is to represent the diplomatic interests of a union of foreign states."
According to the Foreign Ministry, Texeira’s statement made it appear that "the official was trying to become an actual participant of Ukraine’s domestic political processes and public discourse."
"We would be calm about the ‘Ukrainianization’ of Mr. Teixeira, if his political assessments and judgments were perceived by Ukrainian citizens and the media as his personal opinion, and not the official position of the 27 member countries of the European Union," the Foreign Ministry said.
At the first meeting of the council for international business cooperation at the Ukrainian Employers Federation on Tuesday, Teixeira said that Ukraine’s leadership had repeatedly spoken about the fight against corruption in the country, but there have been no practical result and investment to the country are falling.
