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.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS