The issue is one of the priorities of the Lithuanian EU presidency, and a special summit will be held on the issue in Vilnius in November. According to Grybauskaitė, French President Hollande expressed support for the initiative.
"We understand very well that it's very important for Europe to have democratically and economically developed and politically stable countries around it. We have found a very strong friend here and support from the French side," Grybauskaitė told BNS by phone from Paris.
Asked whether Lithuania and France agree on a possibility for an Association Agreement with Ukraine to be signed at the Vilnius summit, the Lithuanian president answered positively and underlined that the whole EU is waiting for homework from Kiev.
"I think that our attitudes match, and those requirements are equally stringent. Ukraine is important for Europe, but Ukraine also needs to realize that if Europe is important for it, then it needs to do its homework and carry out reforms as all European countries do," the Lithuanian president said.
Some EU member states demand imprisoned ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to be released before the signature of the Association Agreement. The West deem her imprisonment as politically motivated persecution, defined as "selective justice."
