BRUSSELS, Feb. 11 – The European Commission has called on Ukraine to urgently return to cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.

"Regrettably, the overall reform process which is vital for Ukraine has significantly slowed. Much more should have been done in the past years," EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule said at European Parliament hearings on the Ukrainian issue held at the request of European Commission Vice President Catherine Ashton at the European Parliament.

According to Fule, pre-election politics also got in the way of the implementation of the IMF stand-by arrangement with Ukraine failing to meet the required conditions. The weakness of Ukraine's constitutional framework has also contributed to this.