BRUSSELS, March 8 ??“ The European Union should play a key role in helping Ukraine to prevent an escalating constitutional crisis in the country, President Viktor Yushchenko said Thursday.

Yushchenko said he has been seeking the EU??™s mediation in Ukraine on the same scale as during the Orange Revolution, a popular uprising against election fraud in 2004.

???I am convinced the institution of the European Union may play big and extremely important role in normalizing relations between the institutions of power in Ukraine just like it was 2.5 years ago,??? Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko made comments after meeting Javier Solana, the EU??™s foreign policy chief, who had played a crucial role in helping to prevent clashes between Yushchenko and Yanukovych supporters during the uprising in November 2004.

Yushchenko, a pro-Western leader, has been since September 2006 challenged by pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who has been seeking to change Ukraine??™s pro-Western foreign policy.

Yushchenko was so far trying to settle the dispute with Yanukovych through talks and through appeals to the Constitutional Court. But his calls for the EU??™s mediation suggest the parties have been increasingly failing to find a compromise.

The dispute is caused by controversial amendments to the constitution that have shifted many powers, including the appointment and dismissal of ministers, from the president to the parliamentary coalition led by the prime minister.

Although the amendments allow the president to define the country??™s foreign and defense policies by nominating respective ministers, Yanukovych has pressed aggressively for control over these policies too.

Foreign Minister Boris Tarasiuk, an architect of the pro-Western policy, was forced to resign earlier this year, while Yushchenko??™s nomination of pro-Western diplomat Volodymyr Ohryzko to the post had been rejected by the coalition.

The standoff between Yushchenko and Yanukovych led to speculations that the president had been increasingly seeking to dismiss Parliament and to call early election to replace the government.

The pro-government coalition responded with threats that it may send police troops to guard government??™s and parliament??™s offices in order to prevent the dismissal. The coalition also threatened to ignore Yushchenko??™s decrees.

The developments suggest the stand-off may escalate into a sharp constitutional crisis and confrontation, and Yushchenko??™s calls for the EU mediation underscore these concerns, analysts said.

???This is the test that the nation, the authorities and political groups in Ukraine must pass,??? Yushchenko said. ???It??™s very important that our [European] partners stay with us all this time.??? (tl/ez)