You're reading: German foreign minister: Tymoshenko’s trial test for constitutional state

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has said that the trial of Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will be a test, which will show whether Ukraine is a state governed by the rule of law, Deutsche Welle has reported.

"If it becomes evident that this process has more to do with politics than with justice, we won’t be able to start agreeing the agenda right away," the German Press Agency (DPA) has quoted Westerwelle as saying. The proceedings against Tymoshenko on charges of abuse of authority are the test for the state governed by the rule of law, Westerwelle said on Monday, Oct. 10, in Luxembourg, where a meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU member states took place.

The debate on the Ukrainian issue was not long, with only eight ministers willing to speak on this issue, representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Robert Steinmetz said in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

The foreign ministers of the EU countries issued a conclusion on the results of the meeting which says that the further European prospect of Ukraine depends on the state of democracy in this country.

Thus, the ministers expressed their position on the eve of the passing of the sentence in Tymoshenko’s trial, Steinmetz said.