Brussels, 09/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - The EU, Russia and Ukraine will meet again in Brussels on 11 July to discuss, at the political level, the effects on the Russian economy of the EU-Ukraine association agreement and the section the agreement contains on free-trade. European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht will first meet Russia's Minister for Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev, then the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Pavlo Klimkin - and the three men will then meet in trilateral format.
“The objective of the exercise is transparency. It's about better understanding the issues of the Russians. It has been a while now that we have been listening to them and that we sometimes hear exaggerated or dramatic statements”, said a European diplomatic source. “We have started technical work and we have agreed to do it at the political level”, the source added. The EU would like to see “a list of motivated and justified concerns”. On the European side, no real problem has been detected thus far and it is a question of reassuring the Russian party.
In the EU's view, Ukraine can sign the association agreement and cooperate with the Community of Independent States (CIS) without this provoking economic or trade obstacles, and without there being any competition issues. The Russian party believes that differences between the two legal frameworks mean the two agreements are not compatible, a European source stated on Wednesday. According to this source, the association agreement will not bind Ukraine to take on the acquis communautaire as such. While there will be a type of harmonisation in some areas, other sensitive areas - such as the REACH regulation or automobile construction - will not be part of the regulatory harmonisation. “For us, nothing justifies these fears”, the source said.
In order to clarify everything, the EU is proposing a sort of mechanism to the Russians. It is asking the Russians to identify the areas with differences or inconsistencies between the regulations linked to the EU-Ukraine free-trade area and to the CIS free-trade area (to which Ukraine also belongs). “We are encouraging the Russians (…) to speak about this with the Ukrainians and, if after contact there are inconsistencies between the regulations, the EU could participate in the discussions and even find mutually acceptable solutions that would satisfy everyone”, the source said.
Uncertain results. According to this source, the results of the meeting are very uncertain. “From 0 to 100%, that will depend on the Russians”, the source stated. “It might be realised that there is no fear, so zero results, or it might be seen that there are perhaps areas where there are problems - for example on certificates of origin (…) and a working group could be set up”, the diplomatic source explained. The Ukrainians, Europeans and Russians should thus work on these issues and provide “assurances, clarification, or even new ways of looking at these issues, if that can resolve the problem”. During the preparation of the trilateral, on 26 June (see EUROPE 11111), the EU made a proposal on the conclusions that the meeting might draw. “Russia did not accept a single proposal”, said the source. Despite the Russian promise to respond to the EU's proposals by 7 July at the latest, on 8 July the EU had not received any official communication as to the results of the meeting on Friday. (CG)