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The Ukrainian authorities must refrain from using force against the Euromaidan Square protestors, demonstrating peacefully against the Ukrainian government's decision not to sign the Association Agreement with the EU, said two key MEPs responsible for the Eastern Partnership policy, Foreign Affairs Committee chair Elmar Brok (EPP, DE) and rapporteur Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (EPP, PL), who warned: "Otherwise, there will be serious consequences".

In a statement issued after the European Parliament's Vilnius Group meeting and a discussion with Commissioner Stefan Füle and former EP President Pat Cox, Mr Brok and Mr Saryusz-Wolski voiced their "strongest support" to the "many thousands of Ukrainians who are gathering at Euromaidan Square in Kiev and in other cities across Ukraine in the freezing cold" to protest against the government's decision "depriving them of their European future". They stressed that the door to the EU remained open to the Ukrainian people.

See the statement by Mr Brok and Mr Saryusz-Wolski below:

"We believe that Ukraine has a legitimate right to make its European choice. The door for the Ukrainian people remains open. We express our strongest support to the many thousands of Ukrainians who are gathering at Euromaidan Square in the freezing cold in Kiev and in other cities across Ukraine. These peaceful protestors are voicing their strong opposition to the decision not to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, a decision that deprives them of their European future.

We strongly warn the Ukrainian authorities to refrain from using force against peaceful protestors. Otherwise, serious consequences will have to be drawn."