Brussels, 27/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 27 June, Georgia and Moldova signed their association agreements - including a deep and comprehensive free-trade area - with the European Union. Ukraine finished signing its agreement - the political parts of which had already been signed on 21 March (see EUROPE 11044). European Commission President José Manuel Barroso described the agreements as “the logical and natural outcome of a path started more than 20 years ago when these countries became independent sovereign states”.
The European leaders and those of the three countries all described the day as historic. “This is an important stage in the history of our relations and for the entire EU”, said European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
Partner countries already see further. With Van Rompuy and Barroso stating that the association agreement was not the final stage in the cooperation, the leaders of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia clearly stated their resolve to become members of the EU in the future. Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko made a “unilateral” statement to the European leaders in which he said that, in “signing the association agreement, Ukraine, as a European country sharing the common values of democracy and the rule of law, is underlining its sovereign choice in favour of a future status of member state. (…) The association agreement is an instrument for the complete achievement of this goal”, he said. Recalling that Ukraine should have signed the association agreement in November 2013, Poroshenko believed that this “shows that historic events are inevitable”.
“This is an irreversible step of European integration”, said Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, stating that the association agreement was “a master plan” for his country's European integration. “27 June will be a date to mark a milestone. We have signed the association agreement which will launch a new phase in our relations”, he said. Garibashvili told EUROPE that, with the signing of the agreement, Georgia had “unofficially submitted a request for membership”. Moldova's Prime Minister Iurie Leanca again stated that his country's ambition was to be a full member of the EU and that Moldova had “neither the right to compromise, nor to hesitate”.
Fresh threats from Russia. During his speech, Van Rompuy recalled that there was “nothing in these agreements or in the European Union's approach that might harm Russia in any way”. Nevertheless, scarcely were the agreements signed than Russia, speaking through its Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Grigori Karassin, announced that “the consequences of the agreement (signed) by Ukraine and Moldova will undoubtedly be serious”. The spokesperson for Russia's President Vladimir Putin announced that “everything will be done which is necessary to defend our economy”. (CG)