Today's Date:

Eastern Europe

Situation in Ukraine – Reply by Michel Barnier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to a question in the National Assembly.

Paris, December 1, 2004

The presidential election in Ukraine was, indeed, tainted by many instances of fraud, as I said here yesterday. The situation is changing every day: 48 hours ago, President Kuchma himself called for a new election. Yesterday, the eastern provinces demanded their autonomy and announced the organization of referenda. This morning, the Ukranian parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister and, finally, the Ukranian people have been demonstrating every day with great dignity to get their views respected.

(...) Our country's action is based on several principles: support for democracy, refusal of violence, quest for a political solution which maintains Ukraine's unity and regional stability, support for the Ukrainian institutions so that they find a way out of the crisis. France is making her voice heard and I have just made it heard once again, but we also have to take Europe's voice into account: that's the whole thrust of the mediation which, on our behalf, Mr Solana is in the process of conducting in Ukraine. As you can see, European diplomacy, which is a common diplomacy not a single one [for the whole EU], is functioning, not only in Ukraine, but also in Iran in order to combat the proliferation of nuclear weapons, in the Middle East and in the Balkans. If you were looking for an additional reason to approve the European Constitution, you have it./.