Ukraine is on strike over EU Association Agreement delay

Photo by Dmitry Larin

Police fired tear gas as protesters tried to break into the Cabinet of Ministers building. European expert comments on the situation in Ukraine.

More than 100,000 people in the Ukrainian capital Kiev are protesting against the government's move to delay an association deal with the EU under pressure from Russia. Opposition leaders joined the protest, said to be the largest since the Orange Revolution in 2004, reports BBC.

Police fired tear gas as protesters tried to break through a cordon around government buildings. Kiev police said they had fired tear gas after protesters threw a smoke grenade at officers in an attempt to break into the Cabinet of Ministers building.

A pro-government rally a few miles away attracted about 10,000 people.

Ukraine made the decision on the EU deal last week, saying it could not afford to break ties with Moscow. Russia is trying to bring Kiev into its own customs union. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the EU of blackmailing Ukraine to sign the deal during a summit in Vilnius next week.

People arrived at the rally, on European Square, with families and children, many holding banners with slogans like "I want to live in Europe" or "Ukraine is part of Europe".

Several rallies in Kiev and other cities have been held over the last few days, but Sunday's has been the largest so far.

World heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who leads the Udar movement and attended Friday's rally, was not present. Ukrainian news agency Unian said he had been flying back from the US after celebrating his daughter's birthday but his plane was not allowed to land in Kiev because of weather conditions.

Let us recall that on Friday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the decision not to sign the deal was motivated solely by economics and was "tactical". He said it did not alter Ukraine's overall development strategy.

The Ukrainian government says it is now looking into setting up a joint commission to promote ties between Ukraine, Russia and the EU. Ukraine depends on imports of Russian gas, but recently the supplier, Gazprom, complained that Ukraine had fallen behind in payments. Pipelines transiting Ukraine pump Russian gas to many EU member states. In 2009 Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in a dispute about prices, causing fuel shortages across Europe in the middle of winter. Russia has a customs union with two other former Soviet republics - Belarus and Kazakhstan - and has been urging Ukraine to join it. A free trade agreement with the EU would mean Ukraine adopting different trade rules.

Kiev's decision on Thursday prompted EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle to cancel a trip to Ukraine. It had been planned for the run-up to the key "Eastern Partnership" summit between the EU and several ex-Soviet states, which will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 28 and 29 November.

Despite Ukraine's decision not to sign an Association Agreement with the EU, experts say the bloc remains attractive to European countries; however, the union does need to work on a growing image problem, writes Deutsche Welle.

"The EU did not have enough ambition to bond the young democracies of Eastern Europe to it after 1989," wrote the French daily "Le Monde" after Ukraine decided this week that it would not sign an Association Agreement with the EU.

Ewald Böhlke, of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) said Ukraine's decision was not a sign of a general rejection of the EU. "The attractiveness comes from the vision that the EU offers Ukraine - namely, 'You have the opportunity, when you cooperate, to become successful as well.'" Böhlke added that he felt this was also the view of the majority of the Ukrainian population.

Yet Ukraine is not the only country to recently give the cold shoulder to the European Union. Turkey has also slowed on its path of strengthening relations with the EU. After a break of several months, negotiations between Turkey and EU were restarted in November.

Böhlke said the reason for the increase in euroskepticism lies in the drawn-out negotiation process. "We have an image problem," he said. "The EU appears as a bureaucratic behemoth and not as a lively society. That's become a major problem for the EU."

The EU's democratic system needs to be made more clear, he said. "The EU finally has to start doing some marketing for Europe."