Tymoshenko transfer vote delayed in Ukraine

A crucial vote to resolve the case of Yulia Tymoshenko and Ukraine’s relations with the EU has been postponed in the country’s parliament.

Opposition MPs showed their anger at the delay by leaving their seats.They had hoped to vote on a bill to allow the detained opposition leader to go to Germany for medical treatment for her back.

Tymoshenko is serving seven years for abuse of office after a trial the EU says was political. Jailed in 2011, she has since been transferred to a hospital unit. Her custody is an obstacle to an association deal due to be signed between the bloc and Ukraine later this month.

But, reading a message from her mother, Evgeniya Tymoshenko said in Kiev: “I’m appealing to all leaders of the European Union, to all Ukrainian citizens, Ukrainian civil society, the opposition, not to waste time but to act and strive for the signing of the agreement under any circumstances.”

Tymoshenko may want to put what she calls “the European aspirations of Ukraine” first. But with EU envoys in the Ukrainian parliament at Wednesday’s stalled session, the association deal looks far from certain.