Ukrainian exports to the EU have reached record volumes and continue to rise sharply. But the potential for economic integration is far from being used effectively.

Do we see an understanding of the Russian threat in the European Union?

Vice Premier for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration on her priorities and tools, details of Ukraine’s cooperation with NATO, and Ukraine’s overall position on the international arena

In countries such as Spain, France or Germany, public perceptions on Ukraine, the Maidan and the war, are a mixture of big-picture frame alongside much confusion

The most important challenges are to lay genuinely strong and stable political foundations so that Ukraine never swerves away from its European course of reform regardless of any political uncertainties future elections may bring

Rebecca Harms, the President of the Greens-European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, is one of EMPs who watch the situation in Ukraine closely. During her latest visit to Ukraine, The Ukrainian Week took a chance to speak to her shortly after her return from Eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Week talks to Wolfgang Ischinger, German diplomat who was the Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for National Dialogue Roundtables in Ukraine, on his work, European and Ukrainian co-existence with Russia, and security threats of the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia

About 98% of the customs duties that Ukrainian iron, steel, farm produce and machinery exporters pay at EU borders will be removed by a proposal backed by European Parliament on Thursday.

US Federal Judge Bohdan Futey talks about the new generation of Ukrainians and threats to Ukraine's independence

The west was prepared to give Kiev at least €20bn in loans if Ukraine agreed sign a landmark European Union integration agreement last month. This information is available due to an internal EU document seen by the Financial Times.

The EU should apply a softer and wiser approach to Ukrainian society in terms of freedom of movement. No Ukrainian citizen should feel a poor cousin in EU countries

Thus far the U.S. reaction to the Ukrainian upheaval has been subdued, as the Obama administration evidently fears alienating Russia, which it needs to pursue its Middle East policies. It is time for the White House to specify its options, as Ukraine stands on the brink of outright conflict

Western diplomats have expressed “concern” over the situation in Ukraine. They “invite participants in the conflict to negotiate” but have hesitated to state a clear stance. This is not without reason

There was a brief euphoria. The President’s incomprehensible and unexpected manoeuvre has baffled and disarmed both the opposition and the public, not to mention his loyal subordinates.

As President Yanukovych’s team is dawdling with the solution of the political crisis in Ukraine, it is trying to get the most out of his defeat, comments Viktor Nebozhenko, President of the Ukrainian Barometer think tank

The people on Maidan were defending something far greater than an association agreement with the EU. They were standing in the way of a police state, defending fundamental European values and defying the post-Soviet order imposed by Russia, The Economist writes

Former co-rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for Ukraine Hanne Severinsen says that turning point, which Vilnius summit could become for Ukraine, seems now to have been lost by a Regime that only has their private interests to fight for.

On November 21, the Verkhovna Rada will vote on the European integration laws first thing, Speaker Volodymyr Rybak announces.

Postponed Association Agreement signing may become an effective tool to put pressure on Yanukovych, but will make Ukraine more vulnerable to Russia

Ukraine will remain a friend to a democratic Russia in the future. Now, Ukraine and Russia are bound to bid farewell to one another

The ex-premier’s intention to run in the presidential election may discourage Yanukovych from releasing her in exchange for the Association Agreement

Under the cover of European integration, the government has pushed lobbied initiatives through parliament

Parliamentary Assembly's written declaration No.554

Linas Linkevičius: Countries are free to choose whom they want to join. Their decision depends on arguments. When someone lacks arguments, temptation arises to use pressure and blackmailing

Ukraine's oligarchs have benefited in the past from the Soviet-style, opaque politics. But analysts say they are ready to sacrifice some of that to EU regulation, Robert Coalson reports for Radio Liberty

Moscow’s efforts to push Ukraine away from the EU have only led to growing the number of supporters for Kyiv's integration. Now, the Ukrainian government has to roll up its sleeves and make sure the Association Agreement is signed at the Vilnius summit, political consultant Yuriy Kochevenko writes for EurActiv.

Ukraine lands 87th out of 156 in the World Happiness Report 2013, experts estimate for the UN

Ukraine is losing leadership in European integration progress among Eastern Partnership countries. This conclusion is based on the 2013 European Integration Index for Eastern Partnership Countries, presented by the Renaissance Foundation in partnership with the Open Society Foundations in Kyiv today

Developments in Ukraine and the lack of effect from the standard techniques of the Russian World have unnerved Vladimir Putin. This may push the Kremlin to radical steps to disrupt the signing of the Association Agreement and DCFTA with the EU and to eliminate the threat of a possible shift in Ukraine’s foreign policy after the 2015 presidential election

Günter Verheugen (SDP), a former European Commission vice president sees “double-standards” in the German government's handling of Ukraine's bid to conclude an association agreement with the EU, EurActive reports.

A series of sex- and-bribery scandals in the new EU states is clouding the EU’s progress in Eastern Europe, reports GlobalPost

During his visit to Kazakhstan British prime minister said the EU should extend its membership deeper into the former Soviet Union, calling for its borders to run from the Atlantic to the Urals, The Guardian reports.

Sikorski said that Ukraine had “time until the end of the summer, if it wants to sign the Agreement in Vilnius,” reports EurActive

The Yanukovych regime is sticking to its utilitarian approach to European integration, while presenting it as the pragmatic protection of Ukraine’s interests.

Yulia Timoshenko`s case and its influence on the future of EU-Ukraine relations were one of the biggest issues discussed at the 6th Europe-Ukraine forum held in Budapest.

European Commission adopted today the proposals for Council Decisions on the Signing and Provisional Application, and on the Conclusion, of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, states the official website of the organization.

Czech Republic, as well as all the Visegrád countries would like to see Ukraine sign the Agreement soon

Democracy and the rule of law in post-Soviet Ukraine

Ukrainian-European or the Soviet-Russian civilizational model will win out: with the former, Ukraine will quickly catch up with its Western neighbours. With the latter, it will likely cease to exist

In the face of a deep economic crisis in Ukraine, the achievements in Vilnius will matter to all Ukrainians

Armenia, Georgia and Moldova have much better chances of signing the Association Agreement in Vilnius than Ukraine at this point. But things may change. The ball is on the Ukrainian side

Ukraine's joining the EU would dramatically and irreversibly change the political landscape of Europe, end the division of Europe and close the saga of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War

Written declaration No. 540 | Doc. 13184 | 23 April 2013

Pieter Omtzigt, Dutch politician, member of the Christian Democratic Appeal and member of the EPP Group at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, questions the powers of Ukrainian delegation to PACE after Serhiy Vlasenko, lawyer for Yulia Tymoshenko, was stripped of his MP mandate, reports The Ukrainian Week’s correspondent from Strasbourg.

“The positions of all member states are now coalescing around the vision of waiting for the situation on the ground to improve while keeping the option of signing the agreement open,” Olga Shumylo-Tapiola, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, writes in her article published on the website of think-tank.

“Ukrainian officials will find that despite the enormous cost and difficulty involved in completing the Association Agreement, a signing ceremony in Vilnius is only the beginning,” Matthew A. Rojansky, deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, claims in his opinion for CNN.

Not signing the Association Agreement will be a clear “lose-lose” situation for both the E.U. and Ukraine. Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, the ambassador of Ukraine to the European Union, writes in his opinion for The New York Times.

“Western interests and values are best served by engaging Ukraine as a solid European partner”, Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission, wrote in his opinion for The Christian Science Monitor.

EU has never promised full membership to Ukraine, whereas Eurasian economic union has done it from the outset, Vladimir Chizhov, Russian representative to EU, told in his interview to EurActiv.

The Ukrainian Week discusses Ukraine’s European prospects with Pawel Swieboda, formerly EU Advisor to the Polish president and currently President of DemosEUROPA Centre for European Strategy

Does Kyiv truly want to join both the EU and the Customs Union? If it is bluffing, then who is the true partner and who is the fake?

Western sanctions could hurt the weakest part of Ukrainian society and push the country in the Russian arms, Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission, noted at the Europe’s Eastern Neighborhood and the Future of the Eastern Partnership discussion held at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington on Marh 14.

It is important for EU to open door for Ukraine without fighting Russia, Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission, noted at the Europe’s Eastern Neighborhood and the Future of the Eastern Partnership discussion held at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington on March 14.

“Despite its claims to the contrary, the European Union has faced difficulties in its relationships with neighboring states in its periphery, most notably Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia,” notes global intelligence company Stratfor.

“After the summit held on February 25 in Brussels the EU-Ukraine relations are further deteriorating,” Amanda Paul, Policy Analyst and Programme Executive at The European Policy Centre, argues in her blog on Turkish newspaper Today`s Zaman.

Yanukovych is trying to provoke the EU into not signing the Association Agreement

Andrew Wilson, political analyst and Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, talks to The Ukrainian Week about the Ukraine-EU Summit and Yanukovych's tactics in negotiations with Brussels

An analysis of the government’s anti-corruption policy serves as a useful example

The EU is signalling that it is prepared to soften its requirements for the Association Agreement with Ukraine, but Kyiv seems to be willing to abandon European integration altogether

The actions of Ukrainian enforcement authorities look like efforts to disrupt the signing of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, but they could eventually prove futile

Ukrainian society is more European-oriented than political elites think

The widespread attitude to Ukraine as a corrupt, failing and ever more authoritarian state is also transferred to its citizens

Bernard Kouchner, former French Foreign Minister: "If you want to live in a better world, it's all possible in the EU"

Varying interpretations of 20th century history prevent the movement to acknowledge Communist crimes from spreading throughout Europe

Ukrainian prisons are nowhere near European standards

Ukraine is no longer a priority for Western countries

It is a thousand times better for Ukraine to be regarded as the weakest link in the EU and NATO than the apple of the eye and the pride of Russia’s satellite world.

The newly elected president of Moldova is a compromise figure for those who want to rally politicians and society around the common goal of European integration and restoring the country’s territorial integrity

Europe seems to finally have understood who it is dealing with in Ukraine. The Ukrainian president is taking a lot of abuse for his policies from one European official after another

Wolf Dietrich Heim, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Austria in Ukraine, talks to The Ukrainian Week about cooling relations between the EU and official Kyiv, the prospects of Austrian banks in Ukraine and the future of the eurozone

Ukraine failed to make good on its commitments in its first year in the Energy Community and wants to pass the buck to the EU

Genevieve Garrigos, President of Amnesty International France, talks about how to defend human rights

The country in which tortures and inhuman jail conditions are of a norm could not negotiate on the Association Agreement

The Draft PACE Resolution outlines the problems with democracy in Ukraine, but does not provide for any sanctions

Cécile Vaissié: “Democratic traditions work only when the government is balanced by an independent judiciary and freedom of speech”

Following the Ukraine-EU summit, the Ukrainian government was alone in seeing “hidden membership prospects” being offered to Kyiv. The EU, instead, will reserve judgment until after the 2012 parliamentary election

Association and Free Trade Agreements with the EU should not be segregated

The Ukrainian Week publishes the resolution to be offered for approval at the Council of Europe session on 26 January

Dietmar Stüdemann speaks about the upcoming Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv and the need a state has for the rule of the principles of a civil society

Given a realistic chance to sign and ratify an association agreement with the EU, the current political elite in Ukraine has decided to get revenge on their political opponents like in a banana republic

The resolution on the situation in Ukraine recently adopted by the European Parliament signified the arrival of a new phase in relations between Ukraine and the EU

At the Eastern Partnership summit, EU leaders indicated that there is a direct link between Ukraine’s European integration prospects and the Yulia Tymoshenko case

Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira talks about the effect of scandalous trials in Ukraine on the prospects of signing the Association Agreement with the EU

Ukraine will only be able to avoid turning into yet another one of Moscow’s puppet and the promoter of its interests on the EU border if the EU insists on keeping political processes in Ukraine within democratic limits

The EU is leaning towards signing an Association Agreement and Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine but ratification will depend on whether political repression stops

This time, Europe said a deliberate "No!" during the Yalta Forum, instead of its common "Yes".

Dirk Brengelmann, Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy at NATO, talks about the Alliance’s strategic interest in Ukraine and the priority of Ukraine’s European integration

Twenty years after gaining independence, Ukrainians are once again enduring overbearing leaders. Breaking this circle of evil should be the main goal of all future politicians.

Former French Ambassador to Ukraine, Philippe de Suremain: “Ukraine is the cornerstone of the future Europe”

Poland has the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) since July. Will Ukraine benefit from this?

Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Juhan Parts: “Building a new democratic state in Estonia and implementing e-government went hand in hand”

Involvement of the society into implementation of state’s policies is of a reason only in case, when the public opinion and opinion of independent experts are heard by the state. In Ukraine neither of the above mentioned is taken into account.

Someone has to start moving "from the bottom up" to achieve a solution for problems

Speaking at a session of the Council of Europe, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych promised to do many things: launch public television, pass the new election law only with the approval of the Venice Commission, reform the judicial and investigation systems and even achieve real rule of law.

Mark Spörrle, an editor with Die Zeit and author of several bestsellers, is taking down notes that can demolish European prejudices about various countries. In Kyiv, he got rid of some, but not all, stereotypical notions about Ukraine