Elmar Brok in Joint Statement with Ukraine

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Friday met in Yalta with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament Elmar Brok, and Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule; the European officials made a joint statement on the results of the meeting.

The text of the statement was posted on the Web site of the European commissioner. The authors of the statement noted that they met Yanukovych one year ago and "stressed that there should be no room for a pause in the EU-Ukraine relations and no room for compromise on values." "We spoke on the steps necessary to move ahead to a new level of our relations through the Association Agreement," reads the statement. Bildt, Brok, and Fule stated that at the meeting today they "appreciated that Ukraine is taking forward work on a number of concrete issues which are relevant for the possible signature of the Association Agreement/DCFTA at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in November." "[We] underlined the crucial importance of progress on electoral legislation, the legislation on Prosecutor General Office and with respect to the case of Yulia Tymoshenko," reads the statement. In addition, the European officials "stressed that the time was getting short and redoubled efforts are needed to ensure "determined action and tangible progress on the benchmarks needed for the signature of the Association Agreement." "[We] reaffirmed that the EU will firmly stand by Ukraine against unacceptable external pressure linked to its determination to sign the Association Agreement/DCFTA," reads the statement.

Originally published on nrcu.gov.

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