Adrian Severin (NI). - Mr President, I believe the only real urgent issue at present in our relations with Ukraine is bringing to fruition the association agreement we have negotiated with that important neighbour who is not yet a Member.

It is a well-known principle of diplomatic negotiations that nothing is agreed before everything is agreed. In this case, either we have an agreement and that means that everything is included in it, or there are things which were not yet agreed and we have to go on with the negotiations.

But to attach to a bilateral agreement unilateral extracontractual conditionalities is unprofessional, arrogant and counterproductive.

This is not policy, but politics. We cannot promote our values in Ukraine by interfering in the petty management of the country or by encouraging the internal opposition’s blockage tactics.

To that end, we must first build a deep political partnership allowing for the harmonisation of our strategic interest.

Otherwise, we might eventually learn that Ukraine did not fulfil our conditionalities but it signed another agreement with another partner which does not cherish our values.

That would be a geostrategic disgrace.