German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier held out the possibility of talks on a free trade agreement between the European Union and Ukraine at talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Ohryzko in Berlin Friday, according to dpa. Steinmeier stressed, however, that Ukraine, which borders the EU member-states Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, had to maintain its course of reform. The EU and Ukraine concluded a partnership agreement in 1998 and have agreed on an EU-Ukraine Action Plan. Talks are under way on a new partnership agreement leading to a possible free trade zone. At the centre of EU concerns regarding its eastern neighbour is its troubled relationship with Moscow, in particular in relation to Russian gas deliveries that pass to EU members via Ukraine. On Friday, the Ukrainian energy company Naftogas said that current difficulties over payments had been cleared up. And the head of the state-owned Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, Andrei Miller, told the Itar-Tass agency: "We hope that there will be an agreement." Gazprom had threatened to cut deliveries to Ukraine on Monday, if Ukraine did not pay 1.5 billion dollars in debts. A similar conflict two years ago led to supply problems to EU member states.
