Polish diplomats are happy with a mild pro-enlargement statement in a recent EU communique. But Ukraine says the text is not ambitious enough.
ANDREW RETTMAN | EUOBSERVER.COM
EU foreign ministers on Monday (20 June) said in their review of the European Neighbourhood Policy that "The Council acknowledges the European aspirations and the European choice of some partners."
They also singled out Moldova and Ukraine for praise in progress on Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTA), sometimes described as "accession-lite" treaties because they go a long way to aligning commercial laws with EU single market legislation.
The official recognition of post-Soviet countries’ EU ambitions at a time when the union is neck-deep in a financial crisis and coping with the Arab Spring is a minor victory for pro-enlargement member states such as Poland and Sweden.
The European Commission had earlier proposed weaker wording on the importance of conformity with EU values in Article 49 of the union’s treaty, which says any "European" country can apply to join.
Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski on Monday reportedly joked with fellow ministers that Ukraine should not be left in the lurch, saying "You can’t invite a girl to the cinema and then not turn up." Swedish minister Carl Bildt quipped that Poland is seeking more intimate EU relations with Ukraine than it lets on, adding "In Sweden, when you take a girl to the cinema, sometimes it isn’t to watch the film."
Despite the good humour, Ukraine’s EU ambassador, Kostyantyn Yeliseyev, said Kiev will be seeking a stronger "accession perspective" in the preamble to its EU Association Agreement (AA).
"We are working hard to have more ambitious language in the bilateral document," he told EUobserver. "This [EU accession] is the one idea that unites Ukrainian society and this is why it’s so important to have it in the preamble."
Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso is to go to Ukraine in October to help finalise the DCFTA and AA talks. The incoming Polish EU presidency then aims to initial the two treaties at an EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev in early December. One Polish diplomat mentioned 2025 as a potential date for EU entry.
Full article you can read on: http://euobserver.com/9/32532
