REUTERS
The European Union must find a new way to solve the Ukrainian crisis, according to which Ukraine becomes a decentralized or federalized state, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy has said.
"Since the adoption of the Minsk Protocol on September 5 on the ceasefire, over 1,000 people have been killed. I do not believe it is a ceasefire anymore. The new regime will suffer a similar future, if nothing changes," he said, as reported on Wednesday by Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda.
"We need a comprehensive solution for Ukraine, to make it a decentralized (or federalized) state," Van Rompuy said.
A key point, he said, is that Ukraine must deepen its relations with the European Union in accordance with the wishes of the majority of country’s population, as well as establish proper relationships with Russia, as they both share a common history, culture and language.
He also called for the restoration of political trust in the dialogue between the parties. In particular, he spoke about the idea of a round table among the key players under the "Oslo 1993" format.
Otherwise, in his opinion, the consequences of the Ukrainian crisis in Europe may be the same as in the case of the Balkan war.
Previously, Germany’s economy minister also spoke in favour of federalization of Ukraine, and the leader of Germany’s Social Democrats, Sigmar Gabriel, called for "a reasonable concept of federalization" of Ukraine.