Ukraine: taking the EU for a bad ride | beyondbrics

Ukraine: taking the EU for a bad ride | beyondbrics:

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In a bid to jump-start its struggling auto assembly industry, Ukraine has introduced yet another tax on auto imports, infuriating officials at the European Union and further jeopardising any chance of signing planned association and free trade agreements with the EU in the autumn.

Signing those agreements would significantly weaken Mosocow’s pull on Kiev, putting it on a steady path towards EU integration. But the agreements were already in doubt after the jailing of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. Now they are even more doubtful.

Monday marked two years that Tymoshenko has been behind bars. And there is little sign that Viktor Yanukovich, Ukraine’s president, will cave in to rising pressure from the EU to release his biggest rival and reverse a broader roll-back on democracy."

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