Ukraine-EU: Signs of crisis

I spent most of the time of my working day yesterday, trying to monitor a visit to Brussels of prime minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko. My goal was to understand the signals Europe should be sending to Ukraine and its politicians, and then to write about this for one of the Ukrainian magazines. As a result, I wrote nothing. Europeans are tired of Ukraine and its long-lasting political problems and confrontation between politicians – they simply don’t make loud public declarations on “Ukrainian question”. For example, Javier Solana didn't even join Mrs. Tymoshenko on a mini press conference after their 45-minutes meeting.

I didn’t find (and haven’t heard) any statement of any European top-politician on 15 October with a condemnation of early parliamentary election in Ukraine. Also nobody had praised it. Though, on evening news I’ve heard a comment of Mrs. Tymoshenko who said that Javier Solana and other her counterparts in Brussels’ talks called the possibility of early election in Ukraine as a mistake, taking to the account world economic crisis.

Today in the morning I've got the statement of the President of the EPP, WIlfried Martens on tpolitical crisis in Ukraine:

The EPP strongly supports the revival and strengthening of the coalition of democratic pro-European forces in Ukraine. It is essential to have an effective and a stable government in the face of the global financial crisis. Political stability is a key precondition for the successful European integration of Ukraine.

New elections, the third in merely 3 years, will undermine the stability. What Ukraine needs today is NOT new elections, but a responsible leadership and a stable government. Now is the time for unity, not for division. We express our full support for those leaders in Ukraine who are doing everything to stabilize the governmental coalition, those who continue with social market reforms. Political instability and the economic crisis are a direct threat to the Ukrainian people.