Pino Arlacchi (S&D), in writing. − I voted against this resolution because its text could generate confusion about the European Parliament’s commitment to the issue of human rights and the rule of law.
The resolution gives the impression that Yulia Tymoshenko, the famous Ukrainian tycoon and politician now in jail, deserves to be supported as if she where a champion of freedom and justice in her country. Ms Tymoshenko came to international attention after the end of the Soviet Union as a member of the new oligarchy who accumulated huge fortunes through the fraudulent privatisation of public goods and through shady practices in business and politics in Ukraine and Russia. She had already been arrested a decade ago on economic crime charges. Ms Tymoshenko’s opponents and current competitors for power in Ukraine are no better than she. I do not therefore understand why the EU should meddle in a fight between two factions of foreign oligarchs, nether of which is either credible as a victim or committed to the values of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. Nor do I understand why our relationship with Ukraine as a country should be affected by the Tymoshenko case.