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Hryhoriy Nemyria
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YULIA TYMOSHENKO
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EPP Throws Weight Behind Tymoshenko
16 December 2009
Published in
Inform
issue #134
See the full issue here.
Last week Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko attended the Statutory Congress of the European People’s Party (EPP) in Bonn, Germany, hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel. While the leaders of Europe’s largest political party will not endorse any single presidential candidate in the first round of Ukraine’s forthcoming elections, the congress attendees left with the clear and unmistakable impression that the EPP saw Ms Tymoshenko as its preferred democratic candidate.
The message was simple. The EPP’s leaders called upon Ukraine's democratic forces to unite around the most democratic candidate to reach the presidential run-off. Opinion polls and experts concur that this will be Ms Tymoshenko, who will face the Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych in a second round contest.
See the full issue here.
Last week Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko attended the Statutory Congress of the European People’s Party (EPP) in Bonn, Germany, hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel. While the leaders of Europe’s largest political party will not endorse any single presidential candidate in the first round of Ukraine’s forthcoming elections, the congress attendees left with the clear and unmistakable impression that the EPP saw Ms Tymoshenko as its preferred democratic candidate.
The message was simple. The EPP’s leaders called upon Ukraine's democratic forces to unite around the most democratic candidate to reach the presidential run-off. Opinion polls and experts concur that this will be Ms Tymoshenko, who will face the Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych in a second round contest.
The first round of the elections takes place on 17
January 2010 with 18 hopefuls vying for the
presidency. No candidate is expected to break
through the 50 percent barrier needed for outright
victory. This outcome will trigger a second round
run off on 7 February, between the two candidates
who polled the most votes in the first round. The
twice convicted Mr Yanukovych – who was President
Viktor Yushchenko’s rival in the fraudulent
election of 2004 – is tipped to lead the polls
after the first round. However, in the second
round, voters who backed democratic candidates
other than Ms Tymoshenko, are expected to rally
around her.
EPP Secretary General Antonio Lopez-Isturiz spoke to Ukrainian journalists in Bonn last Wednesday. "The European [People's] Party is calling on all democratic forces in Ukraine and the partners of the European People's Party to unite and support the most democratic and pro-European candidate who will win through to the run-off, with the goal of preventing the return of political forces of the past and defending the ideals of the Orange Revolution," he said.
“This is as ringing an endorsement as one can expect,” said a spokesperson for the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT).
Ms Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna Party – the largest party within BYuT – has been an observer member of the EPP since the summer of 2006. The premier’s centrist pro-European platform has long struck a chord with the EPP’s leaders, as has her ability to construct a pragmatic working relationship with Russia’s leaders.
The EPP was founded in 1976 and is the largest family of centre-right parties in Europe. At the Bonn congress, its leader Wilfried Martens, was re-elected for a new three-year term as president. “I am particularly pleased that today we are the largest political party in Europe,” said Mr Martens, who is a former prime minister of Belgium. “We won for the third time in a row the European elections earlier this year and have the largest group in parliament led by Joseph Daul. We have 13 EU heads of state and government, and we have 13 new commissioners. We are leading the main institutions with José Manuel Barroso, Herman Van Rompuy, and Jerzy Buzek. With the Lisbon Treaty now in force and with many serious challenges ahead, it is my privilege to continue to offer leadership at this crucial moment for Europe.”
Ms Tymoshenko pledged that Ukraine would do its utmost to hold a free and fair presidential contest.
EPP Secretary General Antonio Lopez-Isturiz spoke to Ukrainian journalists in Bonn last Wednesday. "The European [People's] Party is calling on all democratic forces in Ukraine and the partners of the European People's Party to unite and support the most democratic and pro-European candidate who will win through to the run-off, with the goal of preventing the return of political forces of the past and defending the ideals of the Orange Revolution," he said.
“This is as ringing an endorsement as one can expect,” said a spokesperson for the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT).
Ms Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna Party – the largest party within BYuT – has been an observer member of the EPP since the summer of 2006. The premier’s centrist pro-European platform has long struck a chord with the EPP’s leaders, as has her ability to construct a pragmatic working relationship with Russia’s leaders.
The EPP was founded in 1976 and is the largest family of centre-right parties in Europe. At the Bonn congress, its leader Wilfried Martens, was re-elected for a new three-year term as president. “I am particularly pleased that today we are the largest political party in Europe,” said Mr Martens, who is a former prime minister of Belgium. “We won for the third time in a row the European elections earlier this year and have the largest group in parliament led by Joseph Daul. We have 13 EU heads of state and government, and we have 13 new commissioners. We are leading the main institutions with José Manuel Barroso, Herman Van Rompuy, and Jerzy Buzek. With the Lisbon Treaty now in force and with many serious challenges ahead, it is my privilege to continue to offer leadership at this crucial moment for Europe.”
Ms Tymoshenko pledged that Ukraine would do its utmost to hold a free and fair presidential contest.