European Commissioner: Ukraine Will Benefit From Association Agreement

KYIV, Ukraine, July 7, 2011 -

The European Commissioner for
Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle named
three key benefits for Ukraine if it signed the Association
Agreement with the EU: fundamental reforms, economic development,
and public services improvement. Such statement was made public at
the meeting of the Ukraine - EU Parliamentary Club that started
July 5 in Strasbourg, France.

“Firstly, this [Association Agreement signing] will set Ukraine
onto the course of reforms in accordance with the European
legislation. Secondly, this will create new opportunities for
economic development and investment, and, thirdly, this will help
achieve those most important, shared by the Ukrainians ambitions
for mobility and modernization of the public services,” said Štefan
Füle during the Ukraine - EU Parliamentary Club meeting.

During the meeting the European Commissioner Štefan Füle and the
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Kostyantyn Hryshchenko, who
is currently the Chairman of Committee of Ministers of Council of
Europe, also discussed the importance of interparliamentary
cooperation for the implementation of the mentioned reforms in
Ukraine. “We hope the European Parliament will be the union of all
friends of Ukraine,” noted Hryshchenko.

Ukraine - EU Parliamentary Club was created in May 2011
following the initiative by the European Parliament members
Aleksandr Mirskis, Latvia, and Boguslaw Liberadski, Poland. The
Club consists of 35 European Parliament members and 33 members of
the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliamentary body. Notably, the
Ukrainian parliamentarians represent members of both the ruling
party and the opposition.

The negotiations on the Association Agreement - an instrument of
the European Neighbourhood Policy - between the EU and Ukraine
started back in 2007, and the negotiations on the Free Trade Zone
Agreement followed in early 2008. The EU and Ukraine multiple times
stated their intention to finalize the Free Trade Agreement by the
end of 2011.

European Neighbourhood Policy is a foreign policy of the
European Union with an objective to avoid the emergence of new
dividing lines between the EU and its neighbours. The Policy was
established in 2004 to strengthen stability, endorse security, and
stimulate prosperity in the 16 closest neighboring countries:
Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel,
Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian
Territory, Syria, Tunisia, and Ukraine.

For more information, contact Maria Ivanova +380443324784 news at wnu-ukraine.com, Project Manager at Worldwide News Ukraine