WARSAW, Poland ? The European Union president says the bloc still expects to finalize association talks with Ukraine by the end of the year.
Herman Van Rompuy spoke at a news conference in Warsaw at the end of a two-day summit devoted to the Eastern Partnership, an initiative launched in 2009 to deepen the EU's ties with Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and to spur them into embracing the EU's political and economic standards.
Prospects for concluding negotiations with Ukraine had appeared at risk because of the imprisonment and trial of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Western leaders view the trial of Tymoshenko, the country's key opposition figure and a leader of the Orange Revolution, as politically motivated and a sign of Ukraine's weak commitment to the rule of law.
Van Rompuy said EU officials expressed their opposition to Tymoshenko's trial repeatedly at the summit, where Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was in attendance.
He said EU leaders "expressed our concern" about the selective use of judicial procedures against members of the past administration.
"This is a serious matter in our relations and we are expressing ourselves very clearly on this matter," Van Rompuy said.
EU leaders issued a final declaration at the summit saying they "acknowledge the European aspirations and the European choice" of some countries on the 27-nation bloc's eastern periphery, language indicating that they are keeping open the prospect of enlargement in the future for those who embrace democracy. Leaders, however, have stressed that any new enlargement is not a realistic prospect for now.
EU leaders issued another declaration condemning Belarus for its "deteriorating" record on human rights and rule of law.
Belarus on Friday boycotted the summit, protesting its pointed decision to exclude the country's autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko.
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