Contemporary geopolitical crises echo global and institutional ones. It would be a simplification to reduce them to Russia-West confrontation. Simultaneously, a confrontation with Russia might rehabilitate the idea of a united Europe which is now in decline, political expert and Director of Sofia Center for Sociological Research Andry Yermolayev told ZIK Aug. 26.  [more]

EU and Ukraine leaders will celebrate a "great day" as they unveil plans for a new bilateral treaty in Paris on Tuesday (9 September), but behind the fanfare Ukraine diplomats are disappointed at being denied an EU membership perspective.   [more]

The war in Georgia began by exposing the security vacuum in the surrounding region. Now it has claimed its first collateral victim, after the fall of the Ukrainian government on 2 September.  [more]

Even though most MPs were enjoying their summer vacations, the Verkhovna Rada standing committee on national security and defense convened for an extraordinary meeting on Thursday to discuss the situation in and around Caucasus and ways to minimize negative impacts for Ukraine. The committee also invited representatives of different political forces and government officials. Journalists were not admitted.   [more]

To your attention is a video from Parlamento of the EuroNews website that goes on difficult visa procedure for Ukrainian citizens who hope to obtain Schengen visa. In this short news you will find out how German police violated not only dispositions of Schengen Agreement, but also human right for human dignity. Sadly, but this is not a unique case. Discrimination of Ukrainians in the European Union is getting more and more frequent phenomenon.  [more]

The Ukrainian government gets down to work. `If it`s not the "iron Yulia`, no one will save the Euro 2012 in Ukraine`, Ukrainian officials say about PM Yulia Tymoshenko. `We support Ukraine`, says the Polish minister for sports. The Ukrainian head of government goes to Lviv this Saturday, the city most seriously behind with preparations for the European Football Cup 2012. Local officials are in panic, but do hope for Kiev`s help.  [more]

MEPs in the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Tuesday (24 June) approved an enlargement report stressing that the EU’s own capacity to absorb new states should be taken into account when considering membership applications in the future.  [more]

A row has broken out in Ukraine over a local version of the BBC television show "Great Britons". "Great Ukrainians" came to a climax last month, when the winner was announced to great fanfare. But now the editor of the show is crying foul. He says the vote was rigged in favour of an 11th-Century prince of Kievan Rus, to prevent a 20th-Century nationalist leader from taking the top slot. Dozens of Ukrainian MPs have written to the BBC to ask it to investigate.  [more]

In a remote corner of Hungary close to the Ukrainian border engineers are starting work on construction of the biggest power station in the former communist states of south-east Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The first pair of 400MW units at the €1.5bn ($2.3bn, £1.2bn) plant at Nyírtass are due on stream in 2011, with another four due for completion in 2013.  [more]

Ukraine has been celebrating Europe Day in several of its cities this week, while calling for closer ties with the EU and for a clearer recognition of its European identity. But for ordinary Ukrainians, the real priority is for the EU to let them travel freely within its borders.  [more]