EU's failure to sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine
20.12.2011
Question for written answer E-012600/2011
to the Commission
Rule 117
Adrian Severin (NI)
During the recent EU‑Ukraine Summit, the EU failed to sign the Association Agreement with that country despite the fact that the negotiations had been finalised and political association, economic integration and institutional convergence were declared to be in both parties’ interests.
The main reason for ignoring the interests of the EU in this way was the deterioration of democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine under the present government and, specifically, the trial and sentencing of the former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.
To link the signature of the Agreement to a certain outcome of the judicial procedure in which Ms Tymoshenko is involved represents, by any measure, an attempt by the EU to exert political pressure on the judiciary in Ukraine. This runs counter to our values, which demand the independence of the judiciary.
Against this background, could the Commission provide some clarifications in response to the following questions:
- 1.How can the EU’s political requests to the Ukrainian judiciary, particularly concerning a specific case which is still under the Court’s consideration, be reconciled with EU values in relation to the rule of law?
- 2.On what specific arguments (facts and data) did the Commission base its conclusion that the rule of law and democracy, and in particular the state of the judiciary, have deteriorated in recent years? Could the Commission also specify to what extent the situation was better during the previous government’s term of office?
- 3.What were the (supposedly objective) sources that provided the Commission with this information?
- 4.Given that the Commission has warned us of the existence of certain anti-European Ukrainian parties, what specific measures is it going to adopt in order to ensure that postponing the signature of the Association Agreement does not play into the hands of the Eurosceptics?
OJ C 66 E, 07/03/2013