As EU leaders gathered for the last time in 2013, a post-mortem on Ukraine’s apparent shun of closer ties, was very much high on the agenda.<br /><br />Spurning a planned EU deal in favour of Russian aide, the Ukrainian government drew the ire of many of its own people, with street protests engulfing Kiev.<br /><br />In Brussels the message has been somewhat milder, with one EU figurehead stressing that the door remains open to Ukraine, just perhaps not its current government.<br /><br />The divisive issue has been far from laid to rest, as the summit gave fresh analysis of views on relationship<br /><br />José Manuel Barroso, European Commision President:<br /><br />“For the European, as the President of the European Council already stated, the offer of an association agreement including a deepen and comprehensive free trade area has always been precisely that: an offer, a proposition. It was never an imposition. And as we stated in Vilnius the European Union remains committed to the signing of the agreement.”<br /><br />The two day summit als
