EP: Offering Ukraine European Perspective is of Great Significance for Both Parties

KYIV, Ukraine, October 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

The European Parliament has passed a resolution on the European Neighbourhood Policy, in which the MEPs acknowledge European aspirations of Ukraine and reiterate their view that deepening of relations between the EU and Ukraine and the fact of offering Ukraine a European perspective are of great significance and in the interests of both parties, reads the text of the document.

In the resolution, the European Parliament (EP) expressed conditional support of the November signing of the Association Agreement (AA), scheduled for the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius. The MEPs "want the agreement to take provisional effect as soon as it is signed." Moreover, the parliamentarians expressed their readiness "to complete the formal consent procedure before the end of Parliament's current term," informs the EP press office.

The EP members condemned "the recent trade measures imposed by Russia against Ukrainian exports, which aim at putting pressure on Ukraine not to sign the Association Agreement with the EU," reads the text. Moreover, they called on Russia "to refrain from imposing these trade sanctions and to refrain from undue political interference and pressure."

As September amendments to the draft of the resolution suggest, the EP has revised their negative assessment of Ukraine's progress in fulfilling the requirements for the AA signing, presented by the EU in December 2012. In the revised version of the resolution, the EP saluted the progress made by Ukraine and encouraged for it to continue.

Reforms of the electoral system and judiciary, as well as resolving the issue of selective justice are the areas that need further progress, states the document. The EP insists that the AA "should be signed as soon as the requirements are fulfilled."

EU-Ukraine AA signing is expected to be one of the main highlights of the Eastern Partnership summit. It would add to the EU's credibility and help Georgia and Moldova who depend on the seriousness of the EU-Ukraine cooperation to help their own progress, as was earlier stated by field expert Amanda Paul, European Policy Center. The signing of the AA with Ukraine could become the biggest achievement of the Eastern Partnership in the last several years, continued Tom Casier, Brussels School of International Relations, University of Kent.