Brussels, 13/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 12 December, Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov said at the end of a dialogue - which was “not easy” - with Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle that “Ukraine will soon sign the association agreement with the European Union, taking strategic national interests into account”. He gave no further details, however. “We have the political resolve”, he added, underlining the fact that he had come with an important team - the ministers for the economy and budget, and the governor of the national bank. In addition to Füle, the EU was represented by high-level officials from DGs Energy, Ecofin, Trade and Devco.
Arbuzov said that, before signing, it was necessary to work and agree on all the outstanding issues that were fixed during the meeting. He stated that the issues concern trade but he did not give more detail on this.
“Given the rapidly deteriorating economic and political situation in the country, the faster Ukraine clarifies its intentions the faster we can both start and finish our work”, said Füle. He stated that in the current context, the signature and process leading to the signature should be part of the solution to the political crisis. The process must be inclusive and transparent, Füle added, stressing that civil society should be part of it.
Establishing a roadmap. “On a basis of a clear commitment of Ukraine to sign the association agreement”, Füle announced the establishment of a roadmap on implementing the association agreement and a deep and comprehensive free-trade area. The EU will also facilitate and continue to support Ukraine in order to create the necessary conditions for the conclusion of an agreement with the IMF. “It is important that Ukraine tackles the immediate financial needs in a transparent manner - notably through close cooperation with institutions such as the IMF, as any other arrangement would bring unclear or under-the-table conditions and would not create either the necessary confidence or growth”, he said, recalling that IMF Director General Christine Lagarde announced on 10 December that the IMF is ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine at any time “if Ukraine wants to help its economy go in the right direction”.
Ukraine and Europe will also use existing bilateral consultation mechanisms to examine “swiftly in depth” all the issues related to implementing the association agreement and free-trade area. “This work would include arriving at a common understanding on the expected benefits and investments”, Füle added. He again criticised the figures given on the cost of this implementation - which vary between €5-160 billion. “Frankly, most of the figures flying around are neither based on facts nor justified”, he said. “We have not discussed concrete figures. We must first discuss Ukraine's means, and the commitments and time for implementing the agreement, and then we will have to link our support to the process”, Füle stated (our translation).
On 12 December, Russia's President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that Ukraine is welcome in the customs union. (CG/transl.fl)