Ukrainian President Viktor Yush-chenko called on the EU to commit by 2007 to membership talks for his country.
The call increases pressure on Brussels to embrace Ukraine at a time of little appetite among Europeans for further expansion into poorer parts of the continent. It could also raise concerns in Moscow that Russia's influence over the former Soviet republic might evaporate.
PHOTO: AP
"We have a three-year action plan. We would like it to end in 2007 with a concrete commitment," Yushchenko said on Tuesday shortly before leaving for Kiev, following a speech at the Council of Europe, the continent's top human-rights body.
"At the end of the plan we would start accession negotiations," he added. "It would give us a prospect, a vision for Ukraine."
Yushchenko, who took office on Sunday following a bitterly disputed presidential election campaign that riveted much of the world, will address the European Parliament in Brussels today.
EU foreign ministers are expected to review relations with Ukraine at a meeting in Brussels next week. An immediate goal for Yushchenko is EU recognition of Ukraine as a market economy and backing for its entry in the WTO this year.
EU officials have cautioned that Ukraine -- like other potential applicants -- could face a long wait before actually joining the EU. Earlier on Tuesday, the European Commission gave no firm commitments, proposing more cooperation on trade, immigration, security and foreign relations.
Yushchenko's comments on Tuesday were a clear indication that he wants more -- full membership in the prosperous 25-nation bloc, as well as in NATO.
The reformist leader's overtures to the West have alarmed the Kremlin, which openly backed his opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, in the election campaign.
Ukraine is strategically important to Moscow, which sees the country as a buffer zone between Russia and the expanded EU and NATO, as well as a major transit route for its oil and gas exports.
In a symbolic gesture aimed at soothing those ties, Yushchenko traveled to Moscow and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday on his first foreign trip as president. By moving on quickly to Strasbourg and Brussels, Yushchenko was signaling the start of a delicate balancing act he is likely to follow in coming years.
Even in Strasbourg, Yushchenko stressed that he wants a "strategic relationship" with Russia, telling the European officials: "We have our eternal neighbor Russia with a huge market. Not understanding this market would be a huge mistake."
Also on Tuesday, Yushchenko and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili -- who also favors a pro-Western course -- opened an art exhibit entitled "Rose Revolution of Georgia and Orange Revolution of Ukraine."
Like Yushchenko, Saakashvili came to power amid mass demonstrations against a fraudulent vote count that would have awarded elections to his Kremlin-backed opponent.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
RSS