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The Panel Discussion in the “Weimar triangle” format entitled “Ukraine-EU relations: the decisive moment” was held in the Institute of World Policy. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Ukraine H.E. Hans-Jurgen Heimsoeth, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine H.E. Jacques Faure, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Poland to Ukraine H.E. Henryk Litwin took part in the Discussion.Participants of the Discussion touched upon the most actual problems of the EU-Ukraine relations, in particular the prospects of signing the Association and Deep and comprehensive area agreements before the end of this year. “Association agreement and free trade agreement depend much on the further imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko,” Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Ukraine H.E. Hans-Jurgen Heimsoeth said. “There are some politicians who could hardly see that Germany signs the Association Agreement with Ukraine when Yulia Tymoshenko is behind the bars. I also can not understand fully the legal reasons for keeping Tymosjenko in prison for 6 weeks. The same concerns the other person (Yuriy Lutsenko), whose detention is also questionable.”

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine H.E. Jacques Faure shared the same opinion, claiming that domestic developments in Ukraine concern the European countries, because of the democracy and human rights standards. “There is a strong impression that Tymoshenko’s case is politically motivated,” Ambassador Faure confirmed. “Rule of law and democratic principles are the most important preconditions for the negotiations on Association agreement,” he said.

However, ambassadors of the “Weimar triangle” countries agreed that Ukraine still has a chance to complete negotiations on FTA and Association Agreement this year. “Hypothetically, Association agreement with Ukraine may be signed in December at the Ukraine-EU summit,” Hans-Jurgen Heimsoeth claimed.

“I do beileve that parties have reciprocal understanding of the importance of the process, so we can expect the initialing of the agreement by the end of the year,” Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Poland to Ukraine said. He also underlined that the Ukrainian civil society should not lay the responsibility for what is going in Ukraine on the EU’s shoulders. “Western Europe has much more important issues to discuss than the situation in Ukraine,” Polish diplomat stated, emphasizing that Ukraine is still a strategic partner of Poland.

Discussion was moderated by Alyona Getmanchuk, director of the Institute of World Policy.