Press Digest: Ukraine to get referendum on joining NATO within 6 years
Moskovsky
Komsomolets reports on a promise made by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
that the country will join NATO within six years. Poroshenko has proposed
addressing accession to the military bloc via a referendum.
However,
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine can only become a member
if it fulfills all the necessary conditions, the newspaper writes.
According
to Moskovsky Komsomolets, not all current NATO members are of the same opinion.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters that he sees no
prospects for Ukrainian membership in NATO or the European Union, even in the
remote future. Furthermore, the German official suggested refraining from any
sort of speculation on the topic in order to avoid a split in Ukraine.
Press Digest: Agreement ready for Ukraine to form parliamentary coalition
Deputy
Director of the CIS Institute Vladimir Zharikhin told Moskovsky Komsomolets
that Ukraine first needs to resolve its territorial disputes before it can
enter NATO. “It can hold a referendum, of course, but that’s unlikely to bring
Ukraine any closer to joining the organization,” he said. According to
Zharikhin, recent social polls show that there are not many more supporters of
NATO accession in Ukraine than there are opponents.
“Poroshenko
and Yatsenyuk Agree – But Not on Everything,” reads the headline of an article
in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, which reports that the first post-election session of
the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) is scheduled for Nov. 27. The
Ukrainian deputies are expected to be sworn in, announce the formation of
parliamentary factions, and sign a coalition agreement at the first session.
The most complicated issue – confirmation of the government’s composition –
will be postponed until next week.
According
to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, since election day experts have been talking about
behind-the-scenes disputes between two political forces – Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s
People’s Front and the Petro Poroshenko Bloc. An anonymous source told the
newspaper that the sides have finally agreed to compromise on the biggest
issues. The People’s Front, Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna, Oleh Lyashko’s
Radical Party, and Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi’s Self Reliance Party have made
their own amendments to the draft coalition agreement written by the Petro
Poroshenko Bloc. The newspaper reports that the document no longer contains
strict rules allowing the presidential team to control the government.
In addition,
a proposal to form the governing bodies of the coalition remains in force. The
Council will include three deputies from each faction, all parties within the
coalition will have one vote each, and the coalition will only adopt decisions
on a consensual basis.
According
to Nezavisimaya Gazeta’s sources, the sides have also reached a compromise
regarding staff appointments. Poroshenko has already confirmed that he will
submit Yatsenyuk’s candidature to the Verkhovna Rada for the position of prime
minister. Yatsenyuk himself is in favor of appointing Oleksandr Turchynov as
parliamentary chairman. However, in all likelihood the position will go to a representative
from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.
The
Kommersant daily writes that the recent talks between Tehran and the P5+1 world
powers on Iran’s nuclear problem ended up being fruitless. Not only did the
parties not sign a comprehensive agreement, but they also failed to draft much
less ambitious framework agreements.
Press Digest: Future of Donbass hangs on Western influence over Kyiv
The main
result of the negotiations was a decision to extend the temporary agreement
signed a year ago in Geneva to July 1, 2015. According to Kommersant, at that
time the parties agreed to partially fold Iran’s nuclear program in exchange
for lifting several sanctions imposed against the country by the United States
and the European Union.
Sources
at the Russian Foreign Ministry told Kommersant that Tehran’s intention to
achieve an instantaneous lifting of the sanctions is causing a predicament,
because the Western negotiators prefer a gradual approach.
Experts
polled by Kommersant warn that it will be even more difficult to strike
agreements in the future. The recent U.S. Congressional elections swept the
Republicans into power in both chambers, and the Republicans have criticized
the White House for being too lenient towards Iran and Moscow. According to
Kommersant, Chairman of the U.S. Committee on Foreign Relations Robert Menendez
has already said that Congress may raise the topic of toughening the sanctions
against Iran at the beginning of next year.
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