Our place is in Europe, says Ukraine deputy PM

“We don’t wish to be partly in Europe, partly somewhere else. We wish to be here, in Europe, where our future lies,” says Ukrainian deputy prime minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko in this report by Slawek Szefs.

One of the sticking points blocking Ukraine signing free trade and other agreements with Brussels has been the imprisonment over the last tow years of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which the EU has said appeared to be politically motivated.

A way out of the impasse appears to have been found, however, with Tymoshenko’s daughter, Yevgenia, confirming this week that her mother will be allowed to travel to Germany at some time in the next few weeks for treatment for a chronic back pain.

Polish MEP Pawel Zalewski (EPP Group) tells Polish Radio that the main issue is now not whether Ukraine will sign the agreement in Vilnius in November but how and by whom the document will be implemented.

“Can the Ukrainian government do this alone?,” he says, adding that if it can't then it will need cooperation from opposition parties.

Poland has championed further cooperation between Ukraine and Brussels as part of the eastern partnership programme, which Warsaw initiated with Sweden.