EU diplomats told EurActiv that the recent presidential elections in Ukraine had provided a "great opportunity" to test the European Union's "soft power" in pushing neighbouring countries to reform, taking Brussels as a model.
On a bilateral level, as well as from the European Commission and the European Parliament, messages to Ukraine were well coordinated and mistakes were avoided. In particular, no encouragement was given to Yanukovich's rival Yulia Tymoshenko, who had tried to challenge the legality of Yanukovich's victory (EurActiv 15/02/10).
Indeed, for a short time, Ukraine was high on the agendas of EU ministers (EurActiv 22/02/10) and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who visited Ukraine for Yanukovich's inauguration (EurActiv 26/02/10).
European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek and Commissioner Štefan Füle, responsible for enlargement and neighbourhood policy, also attended the ceremony and delivered strong political messages to Yanukovich.
Leaders helped dispel 'doubts'
Speaking to the press, Ukrainian Ambassador to the EU Andri Veselovski said EU representatives had helped to dispel "doubts" in Yanukovich's camp, which could have cooled relations just as Russia was pushing to extend its customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus to Ukraine (EurActiv 18/02/10).
Yanukovich felt comfortable in Brussels, Veselovski said, because the signals he had received from EU representatives were confirmed at the highest level by Commission President José Manuel Barroso and permanent Council President Herman van Rompuy.
Barroso said the EU values Ukraine as a "very close European partner" and gave the country "a clear signal" that the bloc considers it to be "a member of the European family". His statements had a major impact in Ukraine, the diplomat underlined.
"Those were words which Yanukovich could not even dream of a week before," Veselovski explained, adding: "There was a lot of uncertainty on how the victory of that political force would be seen in Europe. The political tension in Ukraine around and after the second round of elections was very, very hard. And there was some uncertainty in the Yanukovich camp before."
The Ukrainian ambassador also welcomed the EU's positive response to his country's call for visa liberalisation to feature more highly on the Brussels-Kiev to-do list.
"We have been talking about that for the last two years, but we have not moved. Ukraine wanted to hear if the visa-free regime would ever be reachable for Ukrainians. And the answer was a clear 'yes'," the diplomat said.
Asked by EurActiv if his country would join Russia's customs union, Veselovki referred to Irina Akimova, a very close aide of Yanukovich's, who recently said it was "not possible" for Ukraine to join such a union as the country is a WTO member while Russia is not. He said her statement had not been challenged and reflected the official position.
NATO visit to follow
Veselovski said Yanukovich would visit NATO on his next trip to Brussels. However, he admitted that Kiev had not asked for a meeting between Yanukovich and the alliance's secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, on his first visit.
It would have been wrong for Yanukovich to send out "too many signals" on both the EU and NATO during his first trip to Brussels in his new capacity, the ambassador said.
He said his country would maintain its current partnership with NATO, but admitted that there was no more talk of joining the alliance as there had been under former President Viktor Yushchenko.
