THE IRISH TIMES
By Suzanne Lynch
02/27/2014
The deal struck by the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland at an all- night meeting with Victor Yanukovich may have been superseded by events on Saturday, but it succeeded in bringing some calm to the chaos, sending a strong message that an outside force was at least taking an interest in, if not fully in control of, events.
Similarly, the decision to hold an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels a week ago was important symbolically, even if the vote to impose sanctions now appears pitifully inadequate, with Yanukovich’s whereabouts unknown.
The EU has been drawn into the centre of the complex political and economic picture that is emerging from Kiev. Of immediate concern is the country’s economic situation.
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NATO on the retreat |
(Franklin Templeton and its top investor Michael Hasenstab, who bought up to 10 per cent of Irish Government debt during the Irish bailout, is among the biggest holders of Ukraine’s sovereign bonds.)
Aid package
EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn’s declaration at the G20 summit in Sydney last week that the EU was prepared to offer an aid package immediately pushed the financial responsibility on to Brussels’ shoulders, leaving officials fielding questions all week on what such a package would involve. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton deflected questions on the issue at her press conference in Kiev on Monday.
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European Commission chief José Manuel Barroso also called on Russia, which has halted its promised aid programme to Ukraine, to help.
Another bailout
In effect the EU now has another bailout on its hands, something that is likely to garner little support from EU citizens. Ukraine’s urgent need for cash means the EU is also obliged to respond financially.
The crisis has also raised questions about the EU’s neighbourhood policy. Conceived at a time when it was undergoing a wave of enlargement a decade ago, its aim was to create a “ring of countries” that would become more integrated without necessarily becoming members.
The EU’s eastern partnership policy – which specifically looks at the post-Soviet countries to the east and southern Caucuses – aims to strengthen the ties between the former Soviet republics and the EU.
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But the collapse of the association agreement with Ukraine has raised questions about Europe’s strategy on the east, particularly its failure to offer eastern partners the prospect of membership.
A similar move by Armenia in September to back out of an agreement because of Russian pressure should have been a wake-up call for EU diplomats, many believe.
Privately, officials in Brussels closely involved in the negotiations with Ukraine suspect the EU was too ambivalent about the process, with member states divided between those such as Poland, Lithuania and Sweden who favour complete integration with Ukraine, and others who are more cautious. “The message was too ambiguous. We should have been clearer about what exactly was on offer,” says one diplomat.
EU leaders now face the prospect of Yulia Tymoshenko’s attendance at next week’s European People’s Party summit in Dublin. Many are uncomfortable with the idea of aligning themselves with the former prime minister, a controversial figure. It may be that Ukraine will be the main story at the Dublin congress, not the EPP’s selection of a candidate for commission president.