Brussels – Ukraine has been seeking to conclude the EU Association Agreement and canceling the visa regime with the countries of the European community for a long time. Ukrainian officials of all levels speak about this all the time, but have yet to fulfill their goals. Until recently, Ukraine was not interested in progress in finalizing the negotiations on the Deep Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, without which signing the Association Agreement is impossible. As the EU officials pointed out during the briefing for Ukrainian journalists, everything changed during the last round of the negotiations. “It seems to me that after the new government came, I saw interest, and we shall see how this will be transformed into negotiations. If we maintain the dynamism, we can say that by summer or at least by fall of the next year it will be possible to sign the Association Agreement and the Deep Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement,” said a representative of the European Commission.
Another European official involved in the negotiations on the Deep Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement also shares this opinion. He said that recently there has been an impression that the process has stopped, but during the October negotiations the EU saw a new impulse from Ukraine. According to him, before the first visit of Yanukovych to Brussels there were fears that Ukraine would not be the master of its trade policy and would depend on Russia.
The European Commission representative emphasized, Ukraine has a deep interest in the EU and the European market. He pointed out that the EU treats the fact that Ukraine needs funds for the adaptation of its legislation to European norms with understanding. If possible, some financing will be allotted; however, in the opinion of the European official, there will always be a lack of money, so Ukraine should find finances for reforms by itself.
He also said that the EU would not pay Ukraine for its refusal to ban such names as “Champagne” and “cognac.” According to him, Spain was in a similar situation when it was required to refuse from the names that existed in the EU at that time. Then the Spanish began selling their products under their own names, and successfully exported them as Spanish.
The EU official believes that Ukrainian oligarchs are monopolists and are not interested in free trade: they are only interested in protecting their monopolies. Answering the question on whether the current president will be able to overcome the opposition of the oligarchs and realize the necessary reforms, the European Commission representative said the following: “Yanukovych has the European agenda we like.” He also added that during the meeting with EU leaders Yanukovych stated: “Trust in not what we say but in what we do.”
In the opinion of the EU official, a lot of time can pass from the moment of signing the Association Agreement and its coming into effect. This is explained by the fact that it must pass the ratification procedure in 29 parliaments. That is the parliaments of all countries-EU members (there are 27 of them), the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and also the European Parliament. Conversely, the Deep Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement is subjected only to the competence of the European Union and is to be approved only by the European Parliament and the Verkhovna Rada. In view of the fact that its text should be translated into 23 languages, the Deep Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement may come into effect in 2013, the European official points out. In his opinion, the Association Agreement may come into effect only in 2015.
The prospect of Ukraine’s moving to the list of countries whose citizens are not required to get visas to travel to the EU, is rather indefinite. For this, the EU official stressed that one should comply with the following criteria: to guarantee document security, which presupposes introducing biometrical passports, and to address issues with illegal migration, including readmission, public order and security, and also regional consistency and reciprocity.
In this case, the European official emphasized, two stages are important. First, adopting the necessary legislation and creating corresponding institutions. Second, stable implementation of legislation and fighting organized crime. This is not a political task but a technical one, though its fulfillment depends on the government. Controlling the realization of these conditions is not only a question pertaining to the European Commission, which proposed the action plan on a visa-free regime to Ukraine, but also of separate countries: the EU members which have experts in different spheres and can give a relevant evaluation of how the Ukrainian party fulfils the conditions of the abovementioned plan.
The European Commission representative paid attention to the fact that some EU countries, in particular, the Netherlands, whose ruling coalition includes the far-right, already asks to more critically consider the consequences of introducing a visa-free regime for five Balkan states. Assessments will be made in the first months of next year and the report will be prepared in the middle of the year. It is probable that after this the conditions for canceling the visa regime for Ukraine can be better specified.
The European official also said that the Action Plan on establishing a visa-free regime for Ukraine actually corresponds to the road map the Balkan states got in 2008. Therefore, after Kyiv fulfils the terms of this plan, it can raise the question of canceling the visa regime with the EU. “However,” the EU official warned, “the European Commission will check Ukraine’s fulfillment of the terms very thoroughly, so that all EU member states have no doubt regarding it. Only then this question can be considered in the European Parliament, which so far supported granting a visa-free regime to Ukraine, and the Council of Justice Ministers of the European Union.” A simple majority is necessary to make this decision.
The EU specialist on visa issues was not ready to predict when this question can be put up for voting. He only mentioned that Ukraine should not underestimate the importance of stable compliance with the legislation and the struggle against organized crime, both presupposed by the realization of the Action Plan, as well as the lack of funds, personnel, and technical equipment. Indeed, it is the case in Ukraine today: this year Ukraine did not have the money even for the demarcation of the land border with the Russian Federation, and in addition, one should not forget that so far Kyiv and Moscow did not agree on the delimitation of the border in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. So there is a lot of work ahead, the government does not have the time for meditations — one has to roll up one’s sleeves and get down to work.
