Yushchenko addresses Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Viktor Yushchenko, speaking two days after he was inaugurated as president of Ukraine, called on the European Union to commit to setting a date for membership talks with Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.

"We have a three-year action plan. We would like it to end in 2007 with a concrete commitment," Mr. Yushchenko told the Associated Press and two European newspapers after a 15-minute speech before the 46-member Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the continent's top human rights body.

While on his first trip to Europe as head of state, where he addressed council delegates in Strasbourg, France, on January 25, President Yushchenko pressed for Ukraine's ascension to the European Union and other European bodies.

Mr. Yushchenko has said previously that a portion of his domestic policy would include further democratic reforms to aid Ukraine's bid to join the EU, and he said that once Ukraine proves itself, concrete talks should begin on Ukraine joining the 25-member European Union.

"At the end of the plan we would start accession negotiations. It would give us a prospect, a vision for Ukraine," said Mr. Yushchenko, who was to travel to the EU's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on January 27 to address the European Parliament.

While on his trip to France, President Yushchenko addressed critics who fear his aspirations to move Ukraine toward Europe will ignore Russia. Mr. Yushchenko stressed that he wants a "strategic relationship" with Ukraine's northern neighbor and trading partner.

"We have our eternal neighbor, Russia, with a huge market. Not understanding this market would be a huge mistake," Mr. Yushchenko told members of PACE.

However, Mr. Yushchenko's statements suggest the 50-year-old president is acting on his campaign pledge to move Ukraine toward European institutions. He has said his top priorities include the EU's recognition of Ukraine as a market economy and entry into the World Trade Organization.

The European Commission, the EU's administrative arm, in response to Mr. Yushchenko's comments "gave no firm commitments, proposing only more cooperation on trade, immigration, security and foreign relations," the Associated Press reported on January 25.

The European Union's external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, rejected proposals that Ukraine be offered an association accord seen as a precondition to eventual accession.

"The EU is not disposed to do that for now," she said, but added that minor cooperation agreements would be put forward in the coming week.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 30, 2005, No. 5, Vol. LXXIII

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