THE EU's cancellation of tomorrow's meeting with President Yanukovych of Ukraine, following the seven years imprisonment given to former prime minister Yuliya Tymoshenko, was correct in the special circumstances but should not be the end of attempts to bring Ukraine closer to Europe. The meeting would have been of final stage negotiations for a free trade treaty between the EU and Ukraine.
Tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of office when negotiating a gas deal with Russia in 2009; President Yanukovych, who presents himself as pro-Europe despite his previous links to Russia, has said that the supremacy of the law must be upheld; but, in a letter to The Times published yesterday, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK described as notorious article 365 under which Ms Tymoshenko was convicted and said that it was being decriminalised. Also yesterday there was a report from Kiev that Tymoshenko may face a second trial on new charges.
It would be wrong for the EU to abandon negotiations with Ukraine altogether. In the present confusing situation over the legal rights and wrongs of Tymoshenko's trial and conviction it would be better to concentrate on clarifying those and the precise crimes of which she was found guilty. It is important for Ukraine to sustain its hard-won democracy and to draw closer to Europe, whoever is ruling it.
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