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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Sat Oct 3, 2015, 07:50 AM Oct 2015

The Morel Plan: Will Kyiv swallow the bitter pill?

http://www.dw.com/en/the-morel-plan-will-kyiv-swallow-the-bitter-pill/a-18756951

Pierre Morel presents a compromise that could help the West and Russia come to a peaceful solution of the Donbass conflict. However, the plan is not welcome in Kyiv.

The Morel Plan: Will Kyiv swallow the bitter pill?
Dmytro Kaniewski
02.10.2015

The fight over elections in the Donbass region in Eastern Ukraine is endangering the Minsk Protocol. Kyiv insists that local elections, which are scheduled to take place in Ukraine on October 25, also be held according to Ukrainian law in Donbass. But the self-proclaimed "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk have set a different date, and do not intend to consult Kyiv on the vote.

Now, there may be a way around the impasse. French diplomatic veteran Pierre Morel, chairman of the working group on political affairs of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), consisting of representatives from Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and engaged in the peaceful solution of the conflict in Donbass, has presented a new plan. According to media reports, the plan envisions the passage of a special law by the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv, after which, separate Donbass elections could take place.

The compromise proposes that elections would be held in compliance with Ukrainian law, as Kyiv wishes, but that the as yet recognized "republics" would have the possibility of staging them as their own rules see fit. Thus, says the plan's author, the path to full-fledged political dialog and the implementation of the Minsk Protocol would be free. The protocol stipulates that the Donbass remain part of Ukraine and that Kyiv re-establish its sovereignty over the region.

Morel's personal opinion

Kyiv is not enthusiastic about Morel's plan. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he considered it to be nothing more than "Morel's personal opinion." Oleksiy Makeyev from the Ukrainian Foreign Office was less dismissive when he told DW that Ukraine does not reject the "Morel Plan" out of hand and that it could consider it as one among several proposals. Nevertheless, he went on to emphasize, that for Kyiv, the Minsk Protocol remains the guiding document.
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The Morel Plan: Will Kyiv swallow the bitter pill? (Original Post) unhappycamper Oct 2015 OP
Ukraine's Minsk process will run into next year: Hollande bemildred Oct 2015 #1

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
1. Ukraine's Minsk process will run into next year: Hollande
Sat Oct 3, 2015, 11:00 AM
Oct 2015

It will take time to organize elections in Ukraine that respect international standards and as a result, the so-called Minsk peace process will run into next year, French President Francois Hollande said on Friday.

Violence in Ukraine's separatist eastern territories has ebbed in recent weeks to its lowest point since the ceasefire was signed in February, but Western diplomats say the 12-point Minsk peace plan is far from fully implemented.

"On the election issue ... it will take longer. We don't want elections to get held in eastern Ukrainian territories under conditions that would not respect Minsk," said Hollande, speaking after hosting talks with the Russian, Ukrainian and German leaders.

"It's therefore likely, even certain now, that -- since we need three months to organize elections -- we would go beyond the date that was set for the end of Minsk, that is to say Dec.31, 2015," he told a news conference.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/02/us-ukraine-crisis-meeting-france-idUSKCN0RW22O20151002

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