EU-Oekraïne top (en)
KIEV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych got a brief smile from the otherwise grumpy-looking European Commission chief at an EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev on Tuesday (19 December) when he wished delegates happy St Nicholas day.
"Let me also wish you and wish all Ukrainians a happy Christmas and - as much as possible - a happy 2012," Barroso replied.
The throwaway remark points to EU concerns the political climate in Ukraine will grow darker still in the run-up to parliamentary elections in October.
The two sides on Tuesday announced they have agreed the final wording on a free trade and political association treaty.
The breakthrough came after Ukrainian negotiators two days before the summit dropped demands for the EU to insert a promise Ukraine can one day join the Union. A senior Ukrainian diplomat paraphrased the final text as saying the EU "recognises Ukraine's European choice and aspirations and confirms its European identity."
The treaty - billed by Polish and Ukrainian diplomats as a geopolitical shift fixing Ukraine in the EU orbit instead of the
Russian one - will be initialled by both sides in early February in a formal act of completion.
If all goes well it could be ratified by the 27 EU countries and Ukraine by 2014.
But EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy indicated ratification will be badly delayed if former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko continues to stay behind bars. "The parliamentary election next year will be a litmus test. The conduct of these elections will have to meet the conditions of [international monitors] the OSCE, including a level playing field for all candidates. It is absolutely indispensible they can all exercise their rights [to run as candidates," he said.
An EU diplomat told EUobserver expectations are low for the October poll.
"For Yanukovych and his clan the absolute top priority is to retain power inside the country. They will never take the chance of letting her out before the vote, so the OSCE will be forced to say the elections are not free and fair and the EU will have to react," the contact said. He named 2016 as a more realistic date for ratification, if at all.
For his part, Yanukovych at the summit repeated that "membership in the European Community remains our strong objective." But he gave no sign of clemency toward Tymoshenko.
Referring to a 2009 gas deal she signed with Russia, he said it has put the country's gas firm Nafotgas $6 billion in debt in a burden which threatens "the destruction of this country."
With Russia currently applying pressure for Ukraine to withdraw from the European Energy Community in return for cheaper gas - a key aspect of Yanukovych's 2012 election campaign - the President indicated he is listening to Moscow's demands.
Barroso and Van Rompuy at the summit both praised the energy community as a major achievement in terms of Ukraine's EU integration. But Yanukovych said the community's members have "violated" the rules by letting Serbia build new gas storage tanks, threatening Ukrainian business interests.