A European Parliament monitoring mission lead by ex-president of the European Parliament Pat Cox and ex-president of Poland Alexander Kwasniewski will visit Ukraine in ten days, Vice-Chair of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament Libor Roucek has said.

"In ten days, Kwasniewski and Cox will come to Ukraine again. This will be their 16th visit if I'm not mistaken," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

According to Roucek, for the smooth signing of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine in Vilnius, Ukraine needs to settle the issue of the prosecution of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which would not violate the Ukrainian legislation and would comply with European standards.

He expressed the hope that the Cox-Kwasniewski mission will contribute to resolving this issue.

"Further progress in this matter will be made step by step, and we will be able to remove it from the agenda, so that it doesn't hinder the signing of the Association Agreement in Vilnius," the MEP said.

He also added that if Ukraine wants to make some progress in European integration, the authorities and the opposition should learn to work closely together.

As reported, the European Parliament monitoring mission to Ukraine headed by Cox and Kwasniewski started monitoring the court proceedings involving Tymoshenko on June 11, 2012 under an agreement between Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and European Parliament President Martin Schulz.

Their mandate was subsequently expanded to include the court proceedings involving Lutsenko and former Acting Defense Minister of Ukraine Valeriy Ivaschenko