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Thursday, September 11, 2008

EU-Ukraine Summit: Doors Wide Shut (Updated)

The EU-Ukraine summit in Paris must have left Le Petit Prince [read: Yushchenko] reading Les Misérables.



French President Nicolas Sarkozy: This association agreement [to be signed in 2009] does not close any paths, nor does it open any paths. That’s all we could give.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko: We very much appreciate what we reached today.

Sure, Euro-beggars can’t be Euro-choosers. Especially if you come to the negotiation table in such a grotesque disarray.

In the meantime, let our oligarchs buy a little more of Monaco. Maybe then we’ll have our chance to join the EU?

Correction
It appears that the original Sarkozy quote,"Cet accord d'association ne ferme aucune piste, même il en ouvre," meant, "This association agreement does not close any route, it even opens some." (H/t Neeka, Genia)

Well, let's see what that means in practical terms.

Video embedded from: http://video.oboz.ua/movie.php?aWQ9MTc4ODAmdmE9NCZ2dD0w
Source: 1+1 http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice blog :)

Andrew said...

What an amazing post. I got the synopsis from a newspaper article, but you can break down the meaning of the meeting to the phrases that reveal it to be such a sham! You are my favourite blogger.

Andrew
http://www.ukrcdn.com

Taras said...

Thank you, Jef! I like yours, too. I wish I could speak Malay:)

Thank you, Andrew! I just wanted to do a small posting with a French feel to it:)

Anonymous said...

Bonjour Taras
The French feel is there, but it is not so Misérables after all... Our bling bling president (before being forged by translators) said the agreement DID open routes...

When I stayed in London in the 90ies, with the Les Misérables show at the height of its sucess and fame, a phone operator company advertised news forfeits with a picture of Cosette and the title Less Miserable.
:)

I actually wrote my Master thesis on it 12 years ago... Reminiscences...

Bye
Genia

Taras said...

Bonjour Genia,

Less Miserable? Lol! I like that:)! You wrote your Master's on that show? Thank you for deciphering the original Sarkozy quote!

Merci beaucoup pour votre appui:)!

Anonymous said...

Dear Taras,
I wrote the French literature Master's thesis on the Victor Hugo novel. About the underground (the sewer), in a comparison with Germinal's coalmines (Emile Zola).

But the history of the XXth century show IS an interesting one as well... For young historians maybe.

:)
Take care
Genia