The European Parliament, having adopted a balanced resolution on Ukraine, gave the Ukrainian Government a last chance.
As UNIAN learned from Gorshenin Institute , such an opinion was shared by the Chair the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee Pawel Kowal during a telephone quiz on key positive and negative aspects of the EU Parliament resolution on Ukraine, organized by the Gorshenin Institute.
He mentioned that it was not easy for the European Parliament to make the resolution on Ukraine balanced.
‘The 31 October local elections were a step back on the way towards the European integration - let`s make it clear, said the expert.
According to him, The European Parliament is concerned with the issue of TVi and TV5 stations, some signs of intimidation of journalists and doubts about the media coverage during the election campaign.
‘I feel that this was the last time when the Parliament acted in a well-balanced manner. We expect Kyiv to continue political and economical reforms, what is in the interest of each Ukrainian citizen. Ukrainian government simply cannot let itself to commit mistakes, especially now’, think P.Kowal.
At the same time, he noted that the resolution seems like a well-balanced compromise between the political factions in the European Parliament. ‘On the one hand we have some critique of the last local elections, which as I mentioned in my report did not create a new, positive standard and we clearly see that the European Parliament is not particularly happy with recent problems with the media. But we find in resolution also some constructive statements - concerning especially the developments in economical and visa issues pointed during the EU-Ukraine Summit in Brussels’, said the member of the European Parliament.
Pawel Kowal noted that adopting the resolution before the EU-Ukraine summit would have clearly created a situation in which its results could be worse for Ukraine. ‘As we know, the previous resolution tabled by the European People`s Party was very critical for the Ukrainian government even before the local elections. That is why some MEPs wanted to postpone the voting on the resolution in order to fully evaluate the process of voting. We were trying to give Ukraine a chance which it clearly deserved. The problem is that Ukraine did not fully take this chance’, he thinks.
Pawel Kowal shared his opinion that Ukraine has made a substantial economic progress towards the customs union with the European Union. At the same time, he thinks that the possibility of making a similar deal with Russia is not high. ‘We should remember that Ukraine is a part of WTO and Russia is not. I am not also sure that Russia would be really interested in such union because it would create a situation in which they would have to abolish the export duties on gas and oil for Ukraine. The losses for the Russian budget could be greater than incomes. And I am sure that president Yanukovych would not agree to the Belarusian version of the customs union - with limited set of goods. He is too much European in his thinking than many observers think’, said P.Kowal.
As already reported by UNIAN, on the 25 of November, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Ukraine in which, in particular, it expressed its regret that Ukraine had changed the electoral law a few months before the local elections, expressed its concern as for the attempts of the Government to limit the freedom of media in Ukraine lately and appealed to investigate on the disappearance of journalist Vasyl KLIMENTIEV. The MEPs appealed to the Ukrainian Government to investigate on all the reports of rights and freedoms violations, and on the role of the SBU in the intervention in the democratic process.
The resolution also stresses that Ukraine is a European country that may seek the EU membership.
