Brussels, 16/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - An association agreement between the EU and Ukraine will not be initialled on Monday 19 December at the EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev, explained the EU's negotiator, Miroslav Lajcak, on Friday 16 December because the EU has not managed to reach agreement on various matters.
The EU's negotiator hopes, however, that it will be possible on Monday to announce the conclusion of negotiations so that measures can be taken to enable the deal to be initialled in the future. A European diplomat said, however, that some areas remain to be settled, like the EU's position on Ukraine's future. Nonetheless, he said the talks were very close to reaching agreement. If agreement is not reached over the weekend, then it will have to wait until late next year at the earliest, but in the absence of political will to have everything done and dusted for Monday, there is unlikely to be the political will to have anything signed in 2012.
Another European source said Ukraine wants the association agreement to be the first step in the process of joining the EU, as was set out in Poland's association agreement of 1991, but the EU (particularly Germany) wants a simple statement that Ukraine is a European country and the EU “takes note” of its aspirations to become a member of the EU one day.
The association agreement mentions the setting up of a full free trade zone to remove customs barriers for a raft of goods and services.
The association agreement has a political side to it, mentioning respect of human rights, civil liberties and the rule of law. The EU is concerned about structural problems in the Ukrainian judicial system with a biased legal system neutralising leaders of the opposition to President Viktor Yanukovych, the best-known of whom is the imprisoned former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, explained an EU diplomat, adding that the problem was not one person in particular, but the system in general.
At the EU-Ukraine summit, the EU's leaders will talk about economic integration, macroeconomic stability and improvements to economic governance through proper management of public finance, the business climate, investment in Ukraine and energy issues.
The two sides will discuss mobility and the latest developments in the preparation of an action plan on visa facilitation submitted by Ukraine at the 2010 summit, along with the talks to amend the 2008 visa facilitation deal
The EU and Ukraine will discuss the international situation, particularly relations with Russia (especially gas imports), Belarus, Moldova (including Transnistria) and the results of the recent Eastern partnership summit. (CG/transl.fl)