Ukraine is ready to fulfill the conditions of EU for signing the Association Agreement

Leonid Kozhara, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs

Leonid Kozhara, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that he expects Ukraine is able to fulfill the conditions necessary for the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and EU which is expected to take place in November 2013 during the Summit of Eastern Partnership. Mr. Kozhara also declared today in Polish capital Warsaw that he hopes EU will take also the “political decision” regarding this issue.

Ukrainian Minister stated that those conditions and tasks which are required for the signing of the Agreement at the Summit of Eastern Partnership are real and could be fulfilled by Ukrainian authorities, government and parliament as well.

Actually, Ukraine is ready to sign the Association Agreement even now, stated Mr. Kozhara, but there is no full consensus between the all EU countries regarding this question, so Ukraine needs to implement some reforms in order to fulfill all the necessary tasks.

Ukrainian Minister explained the situation with the absence of the consensus between all the countries with the fact that the structure of EU is complicated and the political decisions are more difficult to be taken in EU than, for example, in Ukraine, due to the special procedures. There is 27 countries-members of EU, so the political will in EU is a complicated process as the interests and points of view of all the 27 members and their political leaders and parties should be taken into account, added the Minister.

Meanwhile Ukrainian head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that he is optimistic about the further development of the relations between Ukraine and European countries, especially after several meeting with the leaders and representatives of some European countries which he recently attended. “I am sure and confident, that there is a positive tendency on the path to the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and EU”, the Minister said.

It’s worth mentioning that Mr. Kozhara also didn’t give the concrete and specific answer on the question whether the signing of the Agreement is possible if ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, ex-Minister of Interior Yury Lutsenko and other oppositional leaders will be free. He just stated that the problem of the selective justice in Ukraine and the necessity of the reforms in justice have been discussed during his meetings with European leaders in Brussels, Berlin and Warsaw.

Mr. Kozhara declared that the situation in Ukraine with selective justice and political repressions is different than the European prospection, and the system of oppression doesn’t exist in Ukraine. He also added that Ukraine is expecting the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Yulia Tymoshenko.

According to the Minister’s statement Ukraine promised EU that the decision of the Court will be implemented, so after this decision will be taken Ukraine will start concrete actions. He also added that some changes in the case of ex-Minister of Interior are also possible.

It’s worth mentioning here that Summit Ukraine-EU took place in Brussels on 25 February, where Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich and European leaders have been discussing the conditions and possibilities of the signing of the Association Agreement and the further steps of Ukrainian European integration.