EU And Ukraine Strengthen Relations

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European Union
European Union

The parliaments of Ukraine and the European Union on Tuesday ratified a landmark political and free trade deal, with the Verkhovna Rada in Kiev also approving temporary self-rule for separatist-held regions in eastern Ukraine.

European Union
European Union

“(Ukrainians) died for a place for Ukraine in Europe. Starting from World War II, no other nation has ever paid as high a price for the right to be European,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said as the European Parliament and Verkhovna Rada voted simultaneously.

The deal paves the way for deeper political relations between the EU and Ukraine, but also grants the country tariff-free access to the bloc’s giant market. Russia has long been critical of the move, amid concerns that the trade pact could negatively impact its economy.

Russian pressure was widely blamed for former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to sign the agreement in November 2013, triggering anti-government protests that led to his ouster, as well as the violent separatism in the east.

In a bid to further peace in the region, the Ukrainian parliament also approved legislation granting greater autonomy to the separatist-held eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which is a key part of a ceasefire deal between the government and rebels.

Both parties in the conflict will be granted amnesty, except for those who have committed “serious crimes,” according to the law.

The legislation outlining temporary self-rule for three years also allows for elections, but stipulates that the separatists must renounce their bid for independence.

Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko said the law would not bring peace, while Donetsk separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko said it needed to be studied and would be welcomed only if it brought independence to the region.

Meanwhile, Poroshenko said of the political and economic agreement that the vote showed that “any inner or outer force that tried to stop our progress has already known defeat.”

The pact is a “first, but most decisive step” towards membership in the 28-country EU, he said.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz called the vote “historic” and a “moment of glory” for democracy.

The entire agreement will not enter into force swiftly, however, in a move that some EU parliamentarians decried as an inappropriate concession to Russia.

The EU, Ukraine and Russia agreed on Friday to postpone the implementation of the deal’s trade component until the end of 2015, with EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht calling the delay “part and parcel of the comprehensive peace process in Ukraine.”

He told EU lawmakers on Tuesday that the ratification could not have proceeded without the agreement on the delay, as Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Stefan Fule pointed to the fact that Russia had threatened cash-strapped Ukraine with swift economic retaliation.

Moscow has also asked for 2,400 lines to be cut out of the trade section, about one-fourth of the text, De Gucht said. The amendments are purportedly meant to protect the market in Russia – which also has a free trade agreement with Ukraine – from being flooded with EU goods.

Poroshenko assured his parliamentarians that “no paragraph, no comma, no word” in the agreement with the EU would change.

“We did not cede to any blackmail,” he said.

De Gucht said: “(The agreement) establishes a bond between Ukraine and the EU that will be very difficult, if not completely impossible, to undo because it establishes a treaty.”

But some EU lawmakers were unconvinced.

“What’s happening is that Mr Putin is putting his foot in the door,” Green parliamentarian Rebecca Harms said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I don’t know whether I should be glad,

whether I should laugh, whether I should cry.”

Conservative lawmaker Jacek Saryusz-Wolski called the postponement “regrettable.”

“This delay may be seen as a Russian victory in a Cold War climate,” Socialist leader Gianni Pittella said. “But of course the important thing is for us to move towards peace.”

Ukraine is expected to still benefit from provisional trade concessions that the EU has granted Kiev in a bid to bolster its battered economy. The measures mirror the benefits Kiev will get from the trade agreement.

The deal has to be ratified by all 28 EU member states to enter into force. Six countries have already done so, De Gucht said.

Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev has warned that Moscow will view any implementation of the agreement’s trade part as a violation of the agreed postponement.

De Gucht warned Russia that he would seek to change the terms of the delay if Moscow does not stick by its conditions.

The Ukraine conflict has plunged relations between the West and Russia to a post-Cold War low, with the EU and United States imposing tough sanctions against Russia. In August, the UN said nearly 2,600 people have been killed in the fighting in the east.

GNA

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