KIEV, Nov. 19 - Parliament failed to break a deadlock on Tuesday over freeing jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, with deputies openly recognizing that a landmark trade deal with the European Union may not be signed as scheduled next week.

With the EU demanding Tymoshenko's release as a condition, deputies from the ruling party and opposition accused each other of undermining prospects for the trade and cooperation agreement, which would mark a historic westward shift by Ukraine away from Russia.

Time is running out for the planned November 29 signing at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, and the parliamentary session was called to try to pass a law freeing Tymoshenko for medical treatment in Germany in line with calls from the EU.

However, emotions ran high at the two-hour session and debate on the law was delayed until Thursday.

The fate of former Prime Minister Tymoshenko - a fierce opponent of President Viktor Yanukovych who is serving a seven-year sentence after a trial that Western governments say was political - is the main sticking point for the Vilnius summit.

Yanukovych has refused to pardon Tymoshenko, whom he only narrowly beat for the presidency in February 2010.

He has, however, said he will sign into law any proposal by parliament to allow her to go to Germany for hospital treatment for a spinal condition.

But parliament remained deadlocked, with pro-Yanukovych deputies and opposition parties unable even to agree on a draft law that could go forward to the session for discussion. Speaker Volodymyr Rybak announced that discussion of remaining laws relating to Ukraine's "Euro-integration" course, including one on Tymoshenko's release, would be put back to November 21.

Freeing Tymoshenko could allow her to stage a political comeback and challenge Yanukovych in the next presidential election in 2015.

Former Economy Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, an opposition leader, accused Yanukovych of endangering Ukraine's future in Europe by his obsession with Tymoshenko.

"The fear, and more particularly the personal fear that Viktor Yanukovych has of one person, Yulia Tymoshenko, can darken our European prospects," Yatseniuk said, Reuters reported.

He called on deputies from Yanukovych's Regions Party to return to the chamber on Thursday and rush through the necessary legislation. "Then Vilnius will be a success and Ukraine will be a European country," he declared. (rt/ez)