Brussels, 20/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Technical negotiations for an association agreement between the EU and Ukraine, comprising a key chapter on trade liberalisation, have now been concluded, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and Ukrainian Trade Minister Andriy Klyuyev announced on Thursday 20 October. They stated that, the day before, they had managed to coordinate their positions on the key points of the agreement. Klyuyev confirmed on Thursday 20 October, when speaking before the European Parliament trade committee, that their agreement opens the way to the final conclusion of the agreement announced for the end of the year. De Gucht stated: “We trust that, in coming days and weeks, environment policy will allow the agreement to be concluded, which will be to the mutual benefit of the EU and of Ukraine.”
Signature of the agreement has, however, become less certain after the controversial condemnation by Ukraine's highest courts of the former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko. The judgement has been denounced by many in the EU as being the result of a political trial. In reaction to Tymoshenko's sentencing, High Representative Catherine Ashton had said, on 11 October, that the conclusion of the association agreement would depend on how Kiev behaves with regard to universal values and rule of law, and its management of cases involving former government officials brought before the courts. On Tuesday, Ashton had announced the fact that the agreement would be postponed until conditions are more favourable. Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovich was to have met Commission President José Manuel Barroso on Thursday but the visit was cancelled.
In Parliament also, many take the view that there should be a connection between the signing of the association agreement with Ukraine and respect of the rule of law in the former USSR republic, with which talks for the free trade area began in 2009. At the technical level, however, Europeans and Ukrainians have managed to reach a “difficult compromise” on trade liberalisation, the abolition of tariff barriers, competition and state aid, Klyuyev said on Thursday. During a seminar on 4 October, De Gucht had forcefully defended the association agreement with Ukraine, presenting it as a “model” for the whole of Europe's eastern neighbours. As far as trade is concerned, the extent of the agreement with Ukraine exceeds that of traditional free trade agreements, in that it extends to barriers “behind the border” such as sanitary and phytosanitary norms and also more topical issues such as public procurement and competition. Reaffirming Kiev's commitment to continue reform and its work on coming into line with European standards, Klyuyev said it would be easier for Ukraine to move forward on the political front once the association agreement is signed. (EH/transl.jl)