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.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
RSS