EC President: EU Should Support Ukraine's European Integration

KYIV, Ukraine, September 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

EU should support the European integration of Ukraine and other countries of Eastern Partnership said the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso in Strasbourg at the European Parliament during his State of the Union address. Free will and free consent are the principles of the Eastern Partnership and they need to be respected, he added.

"Today, countries like Ukraine are more than ever seeking closer ties to the European Union, attracted by our economic and social model. We cannot turn our back on them. We cannot accept any attempt to limit these countries own sovereign choices," said Barroso, as reported by Ukrinform.

The European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg was attended by many leaders of the political groups and other members of the European Parliament including Vice-President of the European Parliament Jacek Protasiewicz, who reminded that Ukraine had been experiencing abnormal pressure from Russia. He called on the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and representatives of Lithuania, which currently presides in the EU, to sign an Association Agreement with Ukraine at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius.

Suffice it to say President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz very much supports the signing of the Association Agreement with Ukraine if the Eastern European country fulfills the conditions the EU. "The European Union is very interested to see Ukraine as close as possible to the EU," added President Schultz at the press conference in Strasbourg, reported Unian.

On August 28, 2013, Foreign Affairs MEPs criticized Russian trade restrictions imposed on Ukraine, ahead of possible signing of EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. In a separate debate on the future of Ukraine, opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Vitali Klitschko told MEPs that the country's future lies with Europe, as reported by the EP website.

Interestingly, the European Parliament is planning to condemn Russia's pressure and urge the Commission to protect Ukraine and other countries, members of the Eastern Partnership. Such conclusion is based of the draft resolution initiated by different political groups and registered in the European Parliament.

The authors of the resolution also expressed strong support for initialing or signing the Association Agreements in Vilnius with partner countries which want it and are ready for it, reported BBC.