Ukraine has very little time left to fulfill all the conditions set forth by the EU for the signing of the association agreement, Jan Tombinski, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, has said, according to the Official web site of Yulia Tymoshenko.
"In politics time is critical. My assessment of recent months is that time wasn’t used to the fullest, in terms of what was expected from Ukraine, what should have been done for the signing of the association agreement," Jan Tombinski said in an interview with Korrespondent.
He said a majority was formed in parliament after the October 2012 elections that supports the signing of the agreement and Ukraine’s pro-European strategy overall. "But if I had to list all the official actions, all the legislative achievements and institutional changes during this period, there would be less than I expected when I started working," he said.
However, Jan Tombinski, said he remains optimistic. "There is still some time. It has to be used as effectively as possible to carry out judicial reform, change the electoral law and address one other issue, the most political of them all – the fate of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko," the head of the EU delegation in Ukraine underscored.
"The amnesty of Lutsenko gave us hope that we were on the right track. I hope that soon we will get the same pleasant surprise with the case of Tymoshenko. The dialogue between representatives of the EU and the Ukrainian president and government continues. Two European Parliament envoys will soon make their 20th visit to Ukraine, which shows the intensity of this dialogue," he said.
On August 29, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule said a resolution to the case of Yulia Tymoshenko is one of the key conditions for the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
"Ukraine needs to show determined action and tangible progress on all the benchmarks so that the EU could sign the Association Agreement in Vilnius. This includes the resolution of the outstanding case of selective justice, particularly the one remaining case of Yulia Tymoshenko and further reform of the judiciary; the improvement of the electoral legislation, the reform of the General Prosecutor's office and also improvements to the business climate," Stefan Fule said.
