The European Union's demands that Ukraine allow convicted former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to receive medical treatment abroad is not necessarily an obstacle for the EU going ahead with signing a planned Association Agreement with the country, the head of the Ukrainian parliament, Volodymyr Rybak, has said.

"I think the agreement may be signed without that problem being solved if they can see in Europe that there are preparations underway for her treatment," Rybak told Focus magazine.

However, if the agreement is signed next month as scheduled, the "Tymoshenko issue" is bound to come up anyway before ratification procedures in all 28 EU member countries, Rybak said. "If even one country refuses to approve the agreement, negotiations will be needed, the reasons will have to be found out, and so on," he said.