European Union
leaders reaffirmed support for carrying out a 2014 pact on closer ties with
Ukraine but cited "limitations" amid divisions over how far to go
with a country
mired in intractable corruption and conflict.
Some in Ukraine feel
the EU has not shown enough support in its confrontation with Russia and worry
that promises by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to mend Washington's
relations with Moscow could be come at their expense.
On top of that, a
provision to lift EU visas for Ukrainians is snagged and the Netherlands is
struggling to work around a national referendum that rejected the EU's
agreement on freeing up trade and building closer political ties with Kiev.
Three years after a
pro-EU uprising overthrew the Moscow-allied leadership in Kiev, the mood was
publicly upbeat at Thursday's Brussels gathering at which European Council
President Donald Tusk spoke Ukrainian and exchanged jokes with Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko at a joint news conference.
"You have many
friends here, and I can promise you that you will not be left behind,"
Tusk said. "We also have our limitations, but we will continue in our
efforts to fulfil your justified expectations.
"Ukraine's
success will be the success of all of Europe."
But behind the
official optimism, problems with the deal are mounting as many in the EU are
unhappy with the pace of reform in Ukraine, especially in purging rampant
graft, and some want to rehabilitate trade ties with major energy supplier
Russia.
For Ukraine, a
former Soviet republic of 45 million people, the drive toward Western
integration has come at a high cost.
Scores were killed
during clashes between protesters and Ukrainian security forces 2013-14 and
soon afterwards Russia annexed the Crimea region and went on to back an
insurgency by Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.
The EU slapped
sanctions on Russia over the bloodshed in the industrial east but the conflict
- which killed nearly 10,000 people to date - remains unresolved.
Tusk said the bloc's
economic sanctions against Russia would be extended - likely for six months -
before an EU summit on Dec. 15-16. But the future beyond that has turned murky
as EU divisions over the wisdom of penalizing Moscow have deepened.
Trump's rise to
power may only weaken the bloc's resolve.
CORRUPTION, ENERGY,
TRADE AND VISAS
Corruption remains
rife in Ukraine. Public declarations revealed recently vast wealth held by
officials, upsetting both the EU and Poroshenko's constituency at home.
EU leaders told
Poroshenko he must do more in rooting out graft, improving rule of law and
liberalizing the economy.
Still, Tusk said he
hoped Ukrainians would be granted visa-free travel to the EU - coveted by Kiev
- by year-end.
But that is not
certain as Germany and France have stalled the process, fearing an influx of
Ukrainians could pressure the job market and stoke anti-foreigner feeling that
has already hurt mainstream parties facing elections next year.
At Thursday's
summit, Brussels and Kiev signed a "strategic energy partnership"
agreement, a message to Russia which has strived for years to bypass Ukraine in
selling more of its gas to Europe, including by the Nord Stream pipeline.
But that is unlikely
to assuage Ukrainian concerns after Brussels lifted a cap on Gazprom's Opal
pipeline, opening the way for Russia to expand Nord Stream capacity.
And the future of
the entire association accord, which EU leaders said had boosted Ukrainian
exports to the bloc by 5 percent this year, is now uncertain in the wake of the
Dutch vote to reject it.
While the pact is
being provisionally applied, The Hague is negotiating for a legally-binding EU
summit decision that would allow the Dutch parliament to override the
referendum result.
The document would
spell out that the agreement does not prejudge Ukraine's eventual membership in
the EU, does not oblige the bloc to provide military or financial support to
Kiev and does not give Ukrainians access to European jobs.
Reuters
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