Guy Verhofstadt and Hans van Baalen, ALDE Spokesman on Ukraine will travel to Ukraine this Friday (25 May) for a conference on EU-Ukraine relations. They have also formally requested to be allowed to visit Ms Tymoshenko in hospital and present to her the text adopted by the European Parliament this week on the situation in her country.

Verhofstadt stated "I have requested access to visit Ms Tymoshenko in the clinic where she is being treated.  I have met today with Yevhenya Tymoshenko in Strasbourg and committed our strong support to the necessity of bringing more justice in the case of her mother.  The European Parliament will adopt this week a resolution on Ukraine and the case of Yulia Tymoshenko which I hope to be able to deliver to her personally during my visit."

Hans van Baalen (VVD, Netherlands), ALDE spokesman on Ukraine, spoke during a debate on situation in Ukraine in the European Parliament today.  He insisted that Ukraine is at a crossroads and has a choice to make.

"Ukraine could choose the same path as Belarus which that means that there is not only one last dictatorship in Europe but two or chose to  develop into a modern democracy.  It is not too late to make that choice, Ukraine is not yet Belarus. In terms of the rule of law though there is some progress but the case of Ms Tymoshenko is  a test case and we should use this to judge whether there is tangible  progress or not.  There should be free and fair and open and transparent revision of court cases."  He concluded by saying  "The benchmark will be the forthcoming elections - whether they are free and fair or not".

ALDE and ELDR will host a high level workshop in Odessa on 25-26 May 2012 evaluating prospects for Ukraine's future relations with the EU.