Ukraine’s EU ambassador has hinted that Kiev is ready to sign a far-reaching pact with the Union even if it makes no more concessions on the economy or pro-enlargement wording.
ANDREW RETTMAN | EUOBSERVER.COM
If all goes to plan, EU leaders and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych will in early December in Brussels scribble their initials on an Association Agreement putting Ukraine on a path to one day join the union and fully opening a market of 46 million people to EU companies.
If the opportunity slips by, further EU-Ukraine integration will be put on hold as Ukraine and Russia head into 2012 elections, causing doubt among post-Soviet countries if the union is serious about its eastern foreign policy objectives.
Ukraine’s EU ambassador, Kostyantyn Yeliseyev, told EUobserver in an interview that just two important issues stand in the way of finalisation.
On the economic side, Ukraine would like the EU to open its market for road haulage services to Ukrainian trucking firms. On the political side, it wants the EU to copy-paste Article 49 of the Lisbon Treaty into the preamble of the association text, saying: "Any European state which respects [EU] values … may apply to become a member of the union."
"If it happens, it will signal a great geopolitical shift in Europe. People will be able to stop discussing whether Ukraine’s future lies to the east or to the West. All this will be over. We’ll go West."
The optimistic view is shared by the Polish EU presidency.
Full article you can find on: euobserver.com/9/32594
