European Parliament demands political isolation for far-right party "Svoboda"

Today the European Parliament in Strasbourg adopted a resolution on the situation in Ukraine. By a large majority, the proposal for supplement of Kristian Vigenin, was adopted on behalf of the Group of Socialists and Democrats, in which EP expressed concern about the rising nationalist attitudes in Ukraine, which were reflected by the entry of the party "Svoboda" in the Ukrainian parliament. In the amendment is written that: "racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic views go against the EU’s fundamental values and principles, therefore, we urge the pro-democratic parties in the Parliament not to communicate, not to support and not to form a coalition with this party."

During the discussion of the resolution, Kristian Vigenin, co-chair of Euronest Parliamentary Assembly a made a brief analysis of the situation in Ukraine after the recent elections and said: „The current authorities in Ukraine have done a lot to bring the country closer to the EU. But what is lacking is the understanding that coming closer to the EU is not only technical or legislative process. It is also a matter of values. And exactly at the level of values the European Parliament would like to see more. The Parliamentary elections were clear expression of this deficiency. Despite the fact that number of improvements were made as regards legislation and technical organisation of the elections, main concern remained the pre-electoral process, which needs to be significantly improved.“

Kristian Vigenin insisted to not delay the signature of the Association agreement, because: „this is the most effective way to bind Ukraine to the EU, to make visible and hopefully irreversible the clear European choice of the country “.

The negotiations on the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement are completed in November 2011, but the agreement is not entered into force because the signing is still delayed.