Brussels, 13/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - The negotiations between the EU and Ukraine on a new enhanced agreement, which have been on-going since March 2007, are likely to lead to the conclusion of an “association agreement”, in the opinion of the European Parliament in a resolution adopted in Strasbourg on Thursday. The new agreement, to replace the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), which will expire at the end of this year, “should lead to the conclusion of an Association Agreement that contributes efficiently and credibly to the European perspective of Ukraine and opens the corresponding process, including the possibility of membership,” said MEPs. However, the speed at which this process of rapprochement moves “must correspond closely to the ability to bring about reform in Ukraine and the EU,” MEPs cautioned, and they felt that the future agreement “should envisage development of the relationship in progressive stages, laying down concrete conditions and timetables to be met”.
The EP recommended, too, that member states draw up a concrete plan for the gradual creation of an EU-Ukraine free trade area, which should be based on joint regulation and cover virtually all trade in goods, services and capital between the EU and Ukraine. Agricultural products should “as far as possible” be included in this free trade. It was important to move forward, at the same time, in the process of regulatory reform, especially in the areas of competition policy, state aid, public procurement, taxation and intellectual property rights, MEPs said. They also recommended that the EU enhance its political dialogue with Kiev and provide for Ukraine's close participation in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and the development of regional cooperation in the Black Sea region.
Ukraine would have to continue to reform in all areas if it wanted to realise its European ambitions, but the EU should also provide for more financial means to help the country meet the commitments that would derive from the new agreement, the EP said. The EU27 should use the review of the 2007-2013 financial perspective and of the European neighbourhood instrument, which is planned for 2008-2009 to increase the financial aid to Ukraine. (hb)