“Polish authorities should step up their dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities at the highest levels to persuade them to fulfil the EU’s requirements for changes in criminal and
procedural law as well as electoral law, and to proceed with other activities that are necessary for integration with the European Union. Since the release of Tymoshenko is unrealistic in the short term, there is the necessity to put pressure on the Ukrainian authorities to make her imprisonment less difficult, especially in light of her ongoing illnesses (though this does not exempt Polish authorities, and more broadly, the EU, from further efforts to release her). New scenarios should be found that are acceptable to both Tymoshenko and Yanukovych, including a temporary solution such as allowing Tymoshenko’s maladies to be treated outside Ukraine,” Kościński highlights.
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“It is also important to persuade the opposition not to make any attempts to block the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU even though it might be useful to do so for short-term political goals. Such actions may be expected from representatives of Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchina opposition party, which is an associate member of the European People’s Party. It must be emphasized that the agreement with the EU will force Ukraine to make changes in its law as it adopts the acquis communautaire, which will democratise electoral and criminal law and behaviour of representative bodies. Poland should also persuade those members of the European Union who are more or less sceptical of Ukraine’s agreement with the EU. It would be useful to conduct a detailed economic analysis, including how the creation of a free trade zone with Ukraine would affect the economy of the country and individual EU Member States in both the short and long terms,” he notes.
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Kościński thinks that it would also be useful for Poland and the Member States to consider and propose a monitoring system for Ukraine’s implementation of the provisions of the Association Agreement.
"The Ukrainian side should know that its actions will be visible to Brussels—and EU politicians should believe that Ukraine cannot hide anything. It might also be positive if Kwaśniewski, with his strong role at the moment, could serve as mediator with Ukraine in the future. Yanukovych stressed that Lutsenko was released after the appeal by the former president (along with Cox), which shows the strength of the Polish politician,” analyst claims.
