EU to Sound Out Ukraine's New PM on Reforms After Government Shake-up

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso meets with newly installed Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov Oct. 6 and will sound him out on his government's commitments on economic and political reforms, officials said.

EC President Jose Manuel Barroso
Barroso "will want to know what the situation in the country is ... what is going on with the reform process," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters Wednesday.

Last month, President Viktor Yushchenko fired the previous premier, Yulia Tymoshenko, an ambitious Orange Revolution ally.

He replaced her with Yekhanurov, an economist, who has challenged his new Cabinet to make boosting Ukraine's economic performance a priority.

Staying the course on reforms would be welcomed in Brussels, officials said, and may encourage the EU to grant Ukraine coveted market economy status ahead of a Dec. 1 EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv.

Recognition as a market economy is largely symbolic. Yet it would give Ukraine added protection against possible charges of breaking global trade law on antidumping. Economic reforms may also qualify Ukraine for more financial and economic assistance from the European Union.

Ukraine has ambitions to join the bloc, but the EU has ruled that out. Instead, it wants to craft a program of close economic and political ties.

Source: AP