USA and Euro Union are ready for sanctions against Ukraine

European Commission building

The sanctions could be imposed against Ukraine in the close future, if the conducting and the results of parliamentary elections to be held this autumn will not be fair and democratic.

Ukraine’s parliamentary elections will be held in October 2012, and EU and USA always stated that the results and the process of those elections are extremely important for Ukrainian current position on the world’s political arena. And if there were some hopes before, now the decision was taken by UN and USA that the imposition of sanctions against Ukraine will depend on the election process, says the President of European Commission José Manuel Barroso.

According to J.M.Barroso European Commission had some doubts about Ukrainian situation before, and the concerning developments and events in the country were rare and not systematic incidents. But now those cases show systematic character and are the matter of a big concern for EU and USA, questioning the possibility of building fair and democratic political system in Ukraine at the current stage. Ukraine’s aspirations and tendencies to become a member of European community doesn’t look serious now, as there is impossible to enter EU without accepting European principles and democratic values and without integration, which seems unfortunately quite problematic for Ukrainian state today.

José Manuel Barroso, European Commission President

EU considers Ukraine’s presidential election in winter 2010 to be relatively democratic and fair and to meet European standards. That gave Ukraine the hope for strengthening democracy in the country while the positive changes and tendencies were noticed at the beginning of 2005 after Orange Revolution. But municipal elections in 2010 demonstrated the worsening of democratic situation in Ukraine, and the results of it to be felt till now. Another important problem and the case of great concern for EU and USA is the situation with judiciary in Ukraine. After criminal cases against Ukrainian opposition leaders such as Julia Tymoshenko and Yury Lutsenko and others, the concerns raised that Ukrainian judicial system is corrupt and politicized and demonstrates selective justice. Under such circumstances and with quite negative political background, with fighting opposition forces and even trying to shut down independent information sources operating in Ukraine and violating the constitutional rights for freedom of information, press and expression, there are serious concerns of European and American leaders that the future parliamentary election in Ukraine will be open and democratic. So, on the eve of the new election Ukraine faces the real challenge: if electoral process won’t go smooth, transparent and fair and the developments in Ukraine won’t be changed to democracy, the sanctions against Ukraine could be imposed in the very close future.