|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Viktor, Yulia feud holds key to EU deal with Ukraine
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Container
|
| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Oct 07, 2013 09:38am |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | News |
| Author | Richard Balmforth |
| Media | News Service - Reuters |
| News Date | Monday, October 7, 2013 03:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | It's a vicious feud that has poisoned Ukrainian politics for a decade.
Now the bad blood between President Viktor Yanukovich and Yulia Tymoshenko, his jailed opponent, seems the only real bar to a landmark deal with Europe that offers Ukraine an escape from centuries of Russian influence.
She is serving a seven-year jail sentence for abuse of power but the European Union, with which the ex-Soviet republic hopes to seal agreements on association and free trade next month, wants her released.
It says the former prime minister is the victim of political maneuvering and the way she has been treated does not befit a state poised to take a foothold in the democratic mainstream.
No-one doubts Yanukovich's desire to sign with the EU. And, on the surface, the Tymoshenko issue ought to be easy to solve.
EU mediators have offered Yanukovich a way out, suggesting he pardon her so she can go to Germany for medical treatment for the back trouble that has kept her in hospital under prison guard for most of her sentence. [ID:nL6N0HU2KE] That would avoid the need for time-consuming changes to legislation.
With this option, Yanukovich would get a hefty pat on the back from the 28-member EU and land a deal that would earn him a niche in history.
That should fortify him for a bruising time ahead in relations with big neighbor Russia which is readying for "protectionist" action against its former Soviet ally because of its swing to the West. |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
