Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 10 December 2013 - Strasbourg

Outcome of the Vilnius Summit and the future of the Eastern Partnership, in particular as regards Ukraine (debate)

  Zita Gurmai (S&D), in writing. – We are all aware of the importance of the events taking place in Ukraine. Our first priority and concern has to be towards the Ukrainian citizens protesting in Kiev: for their safety and the respect of their fundamental rights to protest and to freely express their opinion. The abuses in the use of force we witnessed over the past days are not acceptable. President Yanukovych seems finally inclined to initiate a dialogue with the opposition but intentions have to be followed by concrete acts, which does not seem to be the case so far. Apart from the decision not to sign the Association Agreement, the main issue lies in the way this whole process has been handled: such an important decision for the future of Ukrainian society cannot be taken without a broad consultation and a genuine debate. It cannot be the decision of one person alone. Let me add one remark to take stock of the role of Russia: although pressure towards Ukraine and other Easter Partnership countries is not acceptable, one has to acknowledge that dialogue with Russia seems hard to avoid. Therefore I would like to hear the views of the Commission on this specific point.