Leaders taking part in the EU-Ukraine summit that starts on Monday in Brussels will try to put Ukraine back on track to closer cooperation with the EU, but the task will prove tough.

The imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko, a former Ukrainian prime minister, will once again prove crucial in negotiations. The EU considers her incarceration politically motivated.
 

“The issue will be discussed at the summit, as it is impossible to move forward in the EU-Ukraine relations before the problem of selective justice is eliminated,” head of the EU delegation to Ukraine, Ambassador Jan Tombiński, said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine. 
 

The relationship between the EU and Ukraine has been strained in recent months, so much so that EU-Ukraine summit planned for 2012 did not even take place. 
 

Nevertheless, EU representatives are hopeful ahead of the upcoming summit. “2013 is a year of opportunities. It is a year not only to intensify the relations between Ukraine and the European Union, but also to strengthen the political, economic and legal base of our cooperation,” said EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle. 
 

But the EU’s list of demands is long. “The European Union is committed to signing the association agreement, provided there is determined action and tangible progress on the three key issues: selective justice, shortcomings of the October elections and advancing association agenda reforms,” said Mr Füle in February in Kiev.
 

Ukrainian officials bristled at the comments. The country’s ambassador to the EU, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, said he didn’t understand why such conditions are imposed on Ukraine and not on the EU’s other partners.