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Ukraine integration plan on hold, says EU Ukraine integration pact on hold as Brussels vents frustration
(about 5 hours later)
Europe froze its attempts to revive a political and trade integration pact with Ukraine on Sunday, exasperated by what it sees as the double standards practised by President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev. Ukraine's options for resolving an escalating month-old crisis narrowed on Sunday when Europe announced it was freezing attempts to revive a political and trade integration pact.
Stefan Füle, the EU commissioner for enlargement, who has spent years negotiating the deal with Kiev, said the plan was being put on hold because of failure by Brussels to obtain clear commitments from the Ukrainian side. As about 200,000 pro-European protesters staged demonstrations in central Kiev for the fourth weekend in a row, the European commission in Brussels vented its exasperation with President Viktor Yanukovych and announced it was suspending the talks despite renewed negotiations last Thursday.
Yanukovych stunned Brussels last month by abruptly ditching the pact following years of talks, turning an EU summit in Lithuania into a debacle. Yanukovych's decision sparked the biggest protests in Ukraine for almost a decade and sent relations between Europe and Russia into deep chill, as Brussels sees the Kremlin as bullying Yanukovych into jilting Europe in favour of joining a Moscow-led customs union. Brussels is frustrated with Yanukovych's contradictory signals on free trade and political association agreements between the EU and Ukraine that have taken years to negotiate.
Füle tried to revive the integration project last week in talks with the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Serhiy Arbuzov. He unveiled a roadmap aimed at finalising the accords, but only on condition that Yanukovych signalled that he was committed to signing the deal. Štefan Füle, the EU commissioner for enlargement, who has spent years negotiating the deal with Kiev, said the plan was being put on hold because of Brussels' failure to obtain clear commitments from the Ukrainian side.
On Sunday Füle voiced his exasperation. "Told Arbuzov that further discussion is conditioned on clear commitment 2sign. Work on hold, had no answer," he tweeted. "Words and deeds of president and government further and further apart. Their arguments have no grounds in reality." "I don't think Yanukovych will sign the accords," said a senior EU diplomat. "It's blackmail actually. He's saying he will only sign if he gets a lot of money. He's trying to manoeuvre between [EU and Russia], to get money or concessions. He's trying to avoid reforms, but the EU agreements are all about reforms."
Füle argued that in the Ukrainian crisis, facts and figures were being deliberately distorted. "We have heard recently grossly exaggerated speculations about the alleged cost of Ukraine's modernisation linked to the [accords]. Frankly, many of the figures flying around are neither based on facts nor justified," he said. An ally of Yanukovych said the president was keen to avoid being lured into a rival Moscow-led economic grouping, but blamed the EU for failing to make that possible by facilitating some $15bn in loans from the International Monetary Fund.
"It is important to take a sober look at short- and long-term benefits and not see related investments that would create a modern, competitive Ukrainian economy as a cost … Given the rapidly deteriorating economic and political situation in the country, the faster Ukraine clarifies its intentions, the faster we can both start and finish our work." Yanukovych stunned Brussels last month by ditching the pact after years of talks, turning an EU summit in Lithuania into a debacle. Yanukovych's decision sparked the biggest protests in Ukraine for almost a decade and sent relations between Europe and Russia into deep chill, as Brussels sees the Kremlin as bullying Yanukovych into jilting Europe in favour of joining a Moscow-led customs union.
But there is little confidence in Brussels that Yanukovych can be trusted, whatever the embattled Ukrainian leader says. "I don't think Yanukovych will sign the accords," said a senior EU diplomat. "It's blackmail actually. He's saying he will only sign if he gets a lot of money. He's trying to manoeuvre between [EU and Russia], to get money or concessions. He's trying to avoid reforms, but the EU agreements are all about reforms." Some 200,000 demonstrators turned out in freezing cold on Kiev's Independence Square on Sunday to hear Senator John McCain, the US Republican former presidential candidate, declare that "Ukraine's destiny lies with Europe".
EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss their next moves. Senior diplomats admit that the Ukrainian fiasco has generated "lots of gloom" within the EU, with policymakers "beating themselves up" and accepting that they have been naive and complacent in their expectations of Moscow. Füle tried to revive the integration project last week in talks with the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Serhiy Arbuzov. He unveiled a "road map" aimed at finalising the accords, but only on condition that Yanukovych signalled he was committed to signing the deal.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, is to have lunch with the EU ministers in Brussels on Monday, with diplomats predicting a rough exchange. On Sunday Füle voiced exasperation. "Told Arbuzov that further discussion is conditioned on clear commitment 2sign. Work on hold, had no answer," he tweeted. "Words and deeds of president and government further and further apart. Their arguments have no grounds in reality."
Füle argued that in the Ukrainian crisis, facts and figures are being deliberately distorted.
"We have heard recently grossly exaggerated speculations about the alleged cost of Ukraine's modernisation linked to the [accords]. Frankly, many of the figures flying around are neither based on facts nor justified," he said.
"It is important to take a sober look at short- and long-term benefits and not see related investments that would create a modern, competitive Ukrainian economy, as a cost … Given the rapidly deteriorating economic and political situation in the country, the faster Ukraine clarifies its intentions, the faster we can both start and finish our work."
Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister and one of the main EU figures trying to bring Ukraine into the European fold, without offering it outright union membership, said the Brussels-Kiev accords remained on the table and were Ukraine's for the taking. But the offer from Brussels appears increasingly to be take-it-or-leave-it.
Vladimir Oleynik, an MP and ally of Yanukovych, accused Moscow of seeking to blackmail Ukraine, and blamed the EU for tactical blunders in the contest.
"Russia's customs union will never be complete without our country," he told Der Spiegel. "Moscow needs Ukraine's potential for its geopolitical plans. But the EU made mistakes. It has long failed to see how Putin has planned his customs union strategically."
Senior diplomats in Brussels concede that the Ukrainian fiasco has generated "lots of gloom" within the EU, with policymakers "beating themselves up" and accepting that they have been naive and complacent in their expectations of Moscow.
But there is little confidence in Brussels that Yanukovych can be trusted, whatever the embattled Ukrainian leader says.
EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss their next moves. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, is to join the meeting for lunch, with diplomats predicting a rough exchange.
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