Reuters reports and analyses the reaction of the European Union to the events in Kiev.  The biggest challenge falls to the European Union, which helped broker an end to violent repression in Kiev last week, after Ukrainians rebelled against President Viktor Yanukovich.  The EU now faces the pottery shop rule: you break it, you own it. Yet it is far from clear that west European members want to take ownership of rescuing the sprawling former Soviet republic of 46 million people.  The European Commission’s economics chief, Olli Rehn, promised substantial financial support on Sunday and went out on a political limb by saying the country should be given the prospect of joining the EU one day. “From a European point of view it is important that we provide a clear European perspective for the Ukrainian people who have shown their commitment to European values,” Rehn said after a meeting of the world’s financial leaders in Sydney.  “European perspective” is EU-speak for a membership prospect. Not all of the 28 member states support that view.  Rehn made clear that Brussels stood ready to provide more than the 610 million euros ($838 million) in immediate assistance that was on offer last November when Yanukovich spurned a far-reaching economic pact with the EU, preferring Vladimir Putin’s promise of a $15 billion bailout from Russia.  EU officials have said that by front-loading amounts planned over a seven-year period under the proposed association agreement, Kiev could receive more than 2 billion euros quickly once a deal was signed.  The EU could also bring forward access to its own market of 500 million consumers before full ratification, but Ukraine doesn’t have much to sell.  All that would require a Ukrainian government empowered to sign the deal, which would probably have to wait until after a presidential election now set for May 25.  Some experts such as Michael Leigh, a former top civil servant in the European Commission’s enlargement department, say the agreement was flawed and should be rewritten to offer more incentives and pose fewer demands in terms of Ukraine adopting swathes of EU legislation and standards.  Economists say implementing the proposed Deep and Comprehensive Trade Area could further weaken the Ukrainian economy initially, hitting uncompetitive industries that have sold most of their output to Russia.  There are also big political risks, with the release of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko raising the prospect of bitter rivalry for power in Kiev. EU officials recall her period as prime minister after Ukraine’s 2004/5 pro-democracy Orange Revolution as hardly less corrupt than Yanukovich’s tenure. Ukraine is 144th on watchdog Transparency International’s index of perceived corruption.  “Political uncertainty has arguably increased - including around the outcome of the presidential election set for 25 May - bringing with it a potential increase in the probability of a sovereign default,” Nomura political analyst Alastair Newton said.  Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country played a central role in the negotiations, highlighted the stakes for the EU in a country that borders his own.  “We are dealing in Ukraine with the first sacrifices of life for the integration of Europe. Today it is tragic, but in the future this will be a true hope for Ukraine,” he said on Friday.  Yet much of western Europe is suffering enlargement fatigue after the bloc admitted 13 new mostly ex-communist central and east European members since 2004.  EU co-founder France, in particular, would rather keep Ukraine and Turkey, which has been negotiating for accession in slow motion since 2005, in an outer ring of partners outside the bloc. Germany’s Merkel is also cool.
• Yanukovych impeached by parliament with precise whereabouts unknown• Tymoshenko urges protesters to stand firm after she is released from prison• Elections to be held in May