Brussels, 03/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Ukraine still has to proceed with reforms before being able to claim to be a market economy and create, together with the EU, a common economic and political co-operation area. This was the substance of the message delivered to Ukrainian President, Leonid Kuchma and his delegation on Thursday in Copenhagen at the EU/Ukraine summit. The EU was represented by Commission President, Romano Prodi, the Acting European Council President, Anders Foegh Rasmussen and CFSP High Representative, Javier Solana.
There is therefore no major event or decision to be expected from this short summit which begins at 17: 30 H and finished two hours later. The meeting will essentially allow the two parties to sketch out the contours of a future economic and political co-operation area within the perspective of their immediate rapprochement. There's no secret about the Ukraine wishing to achieve the status of a market economy country but the Union is still rather sceptical about this point. We're no expecting any significant advances on the subject, was the sentiment of Reijo Kempinnen, Commission spokesman, in an address to the press on Tuesday, although he did not absolutely rule out the emergence of a "structured dialogue". The spokesman explained that in order for the Ukraine to create, together with the EU, an economic and political co-operation area, it would need to achieve more reforms, particularly in the legal domain. Mr Kempinnen also stressed that the EU was expecting freedom of the press and protection of journalists to be reinforced and that the Ukraine made a clear commitment to align itself with market economy standards, particularly with regard to the prices of industrial products. He also declared that discussion on Thursday would focus on the implications of enlargement and indicated that an agreement tracing the framework of co-operation between the parties in science and technologies could be signed in the Danish capital.