Ukraine Insists on Solidifying its European Integration Perspective in the Association Agreement With the EU

KYIV, Ukraine, July 20, 2011 -

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Kostyantyn
Gryshchenko said that Association Agreement with the European Union
is a priority for Ukraine and that the country would insist upon
solidifying its European perspective regardless of the skepticism
of some EU member states. Such statement was released during an
informal meeting of the Group of Friends of Ukraine before
the European Union‘s Foreign Affairs Council meeting
on July 18 in Brussels.

The meeting was organized by Lithuanian Minister of Foreign
Affairs Audronius Ažubalis in cooperation with Foreign Minister of
the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union Radoslaw
Sikorski and the head of the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.
The meeting was attended by more than ten EU officials including
the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood
Policy Štefan Füle and foreign ministers of the Czech Republic,
Romania and Latvia. The objective of the Group of Friends of
Ukraine is to help Ukraine pursue the path of European integration
successfully.

According to Gryshchenko, the decision to sign an Association
Agreement with Ukraine requires certain political courage from the
EU members. At the same time, the Agreement will be a powerful
stimulus for the Ukrainian society to accept the unpopular reforms,
currently in the making.

Certain progress has been recently reported in the EU-Ukraine
negotiations on the Association Agreement. Specifically, on July
12, 2011, during the 19^th round of negotiations the
sides agreed upon a number of issues: justice, freedom and safety,
political dialogue. Earlier, both Ukraine and the EU expressed
their intention to sign the Association Agreement by the end of
2011. This spring both parties noted that 90% of Free Trade
Agreement positions - integral part of the Association Agreement -
had been agreed upon.

Over the course of the EU-Ukraine negotiations, there has been a
lot of skepticism expressed regarding the European integration of
Ukraine. In early 2007 France insisted on removal of any hints of
Ukraine’s European perspective from the draft of the future
Association Agreement. Likewise, various media reported that
Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg strongly opposed
including the statement that “Ukraine is a European State” in any
legally binding documents signed by the EU.

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