2 December 2013
MEDIA RELEASE
UWC President addresses Civil Society Conference during
Third Summit of the Eastern Partnership in Vilnius
On 29 November 2013 Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij addressed the Civil Society Conference organized in conjunction with the Third Summit of the Eastern Partnership in Vilnius. The three-day conference titled Eastern Partnership Reality Check: Political Challenges and Future Agenda for Civil Society brought together civil society leaders, key experts, political figures and public activists to discuss the EU’s continued program with respect to the Eastern Partnership.
Eugene Czolij participated in a panel on the topic “Ukraine as EU’s (Non) Associated Country: Possibilities and Challenges”.
In his presentation, the UWC President highlighted that on 24 November 2013 the people of Ukraine spoke, declaring clearly that they are in favour of Ukraine’s Euro-integration. Eugene Czolij stated that the EU wished to hear a tangible voice from Ukraine in that regard and, having heard it, the EU should answer it.
The UWC President also emphasized the need for a clear policy on dealing with Russia’s blatant violations of international commitments, and specifically the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non‑Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons that provides that Russia will not use economic pressure against Ukraine.
The session, chaired by the Deputy Chair of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the Lithuanian Parliament and former Minister of Foreign AffairsAudronius Ažubalis, included as panelists the former President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Ukraine’s opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Vitali Klitschko and Oleh Tyahnybok, Member of Ukraine’s Parliament and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Petro Poroshenko and UWC President Eugene Czolij.
