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Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum

Ukraine: Catherine Ashton meets civil society representatives - The violence ‘must stop’!

Yesterday representatives of the Ukraine’s National Platform together with the Civic Sector of Euromaidan, Student Coordination Council of Ukraine, Euromaidan SOS and other representatives of the civil society and media met with Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The discussion was focused on the current developments in Ukraine, with the special attention to prosecutions of the civil society representatives. The participants have stressed that the negotiation process is lacking the representatives of the civil society, and include only opposition and the government officials. To this remark Catherine Ashton asked who can become such a representative to which the response was that the problem is not about the personalities but the fact that the government officials insist on a dialogue only with the opposition. The speakers also pointed out that the process of negotiations has no trust whatsoever among those protesting as in parallel the government is increasing the numbers of special forces and continues to prepare the violent scenario. Civil society representatives also pointed out that the protest was peaceful until the government began using force against those protesting. In the policy domain they addressed the issue of limiting presidential powers, Constitutional reform, which is taking place already two years and stressed again that the struggle is not about the East and West of Ukraine but against the President who is trying to establish the dictatorship in the country.

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