Ukraine and the European Union will resume their dialogue on the Association Agreement if Ukraine holds democratic parliamentary elections on October 28, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn has said.

"I think we should solve the problems step by step. The key task today is to hold the elections in Ukraine according to acceptable standards. I think that if we manage this task, the range of opportunities for dialogue with the European Union will expand significantly," Lytvyn told journalists on Thursday, while commenting on a statement of a German parliamentarian on the possible blocking of the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement if former Ukrainian Premier Yulia Tymoshenko is not released.

Lytvyn said the situation has moved so far that "the problem of Tymoshenko has become a problem for Ukraine and the European Union." He added that this problem should be solved only via legal ways, although this was also difficult.

As reported, Chairman of the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union of the Bundestag Gunther Krichbaum stated that the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, will block the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement if former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is not released from prison.

"The Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine will be blocked. As a chairman of the Committee on the Affairs of the European Union of the Bundestag, I will recommend that this be done until the case against Yulia Tymoshenko is closed… For us, this case is a symbol of Ukraine's attitude towards human rights and democracy," he said.