Ukraine Insists on its EU Membership Perspective

KYIV, Ukraine, October 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Ukraine insists on mentioning the country's membership perspective in the body of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin on the eve of the 20^th round of negotiations on the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, according to Kommersant-Ukraine.

Currently, Ukraine and the bloc of 27 European countries are holding the 20^th round of negotiations on the Association Agreement. This time the negotiations are focused on the political part of the future agreement. The document stipulates a significant progress in the relations between the parties within the next 10 years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine suggests mentioning Article #49 or Article #2 of the Treaty on the European Union in its version of the draft document (the articles provision objectives and the right of any European country to become a member of the EU. - Ed.). Kyiv also suggests provisioning the status of Ukraine as a European country in the document. "It is of outmost importance for us (Ukraine. - Ed.) to provision the final result - the country's membership," commented Pavlo Klimkin, the head of the Ukrainian negotiation team.

In addition, Ukraine is set to discuss waiving the visa regime between Ukraine and the EU.  As of today, the draft document provisions the long-term perspective of establishing a visa free regime for Ukrainian citizens. At the recent Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw, however, the European Union agreed to abolish the "long-term perspective" formula. Notably, Ukraine seeks concrete conditions that would stipulate cancellation of the visa regime.        

Another important issue that both sides have to agree upon is the duration of the Agreement, said Klimkin. Ukraine suggested 10 years without automatic renewal with a midterm - after five years - "comprehensive review" of the agreement including the part on free trade zone.

Earlier, on October 20, as a result of the EU-Ukraine negotiations in Brussels the parties agreed on all the key aspects of the trade related part of the Association Agreement. The Agreement on creating the deep and comprehensive free trade zone will become a core part of the Association Agreement, which has been negotiated since 2007. Kyiv and Brussels expect to sign the agreement before the end of 2011.