On Thursday 22 June, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko announced that the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine would fully enter into force on 1 September.
"Its entry into force will finally take place on 1 September. The association agreement will be fully in force", he said at a press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk, during his traditional visit to Brussels before a European Council, which is this time expected to discuss the sanctions against Russia in connection with the Ukrainian crisis. The entry into force of the association agreement was delayed due to opposition from the Netherlands (see EUROPE 11686). For Poroshenko, this agreement is also an action programme, a roadmap for implementing reforms. "This will be the next step on the path of a secure and stable state, and of a fast-growing economy", Tusk said.
More generally, and particularly due to visa liberalisation for Ukrainians, Poroshenko said that "the EU and Ukraine were closer to each other than ever before". "We have never had such a level of trust, cooperation and support", he added.
Poroshenko underlined the coordination of the Ukrainian, European and even American positions on the "threat" presented by the North Stream 2 project – a project that is "politically motivated" and a "tool of Russian energy aggression" against Ukraine and "against the EU". "Energy diversity, energy independence, effective cooperation, and keeping the treaty on the energy community are very important for us", Poroshenko said.
He also spoke about the EU sanctions against Russia. Stating the USA had just strengthened its sanctions against Russia, Poroshenko hinted that Tusk had told him that the EU is expected to extend its own measures. Saying that the Minsk agreements had not been implemented by the Russian side, Poroshenko announced that a telephone conference in the Normandy format (with the Ukrainian, French and Russian presidents and German Chancellor Angela Merkel) was due to be held next week. Tusk congratulated him on "the pro-European determination and courage" with which Ukraine defends its independence. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)