mr president one of the most important results of the collapse of the soviet union was the creation of an independent ukraine
it is a country which can be seen as a future member of the european community
i can only welcome the fact that president yanukovych and the new parliament have confirmed their aspirations to join europe because a genuinely independent and democratic ukraine free of corruption and a fear of power structures and oligarchs and a ukraine which is firmly based on the rule of law is and will be an irreplaceable factor of stability for the whole continent
without a genuinely democratic ukraine it is hard to imagine a genuinely democratic russia
yesterday marked six years since the start of the orange revolution
sadly the huge potential of that change has been wasted
however thanks to the victory of democratic protesters in december two thousand and four the credibility of multi-party elections and the freedom of the press was established
in its draft resolution the european parliament expresses concern over the increasing number of reports that democratic freedoms and rights including the freedom of the media have been under threat and that security services have started to intervene in the democratic activities of citizens once again
i would like to send an important message to the new government which is that europe is open to all fields of cooperation but the price of that cooperation can never be to ignore the curbing of basic freedoms
as true friends of ukraine we need more than ever to be frank friendly and consistent in asserting our values
it is regrettable that six years on the new elites still cannot accept the orange revolution as a genuine expression of popular will
coming to terms with the causes and results of that revolution can only improve the integration of ukrainian society
