The Next Phase Of Development Of The Ukraine-EU
Relations May Be Only Ukraine's EU Membership
By David Stepanyan
arminfo.am - 19/9/2014
Ukraine's Ambassador To Armenia: The Next Phase Of Development Of The UkraineEU Relations May Be Only Ukraine's EU Membership
ArmInfo's Interview with Ivan Kukhta, Ukraine's Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia
Would you characterize Ukraine's European prospects following the Sept 16
ratification of Ukraine's Association Agreement with the EU by the Supreme
Rada?
September 16th has become a significant day for Ukraine, because on that
day the Supreme Rada ratified the very important Ukraine-EU Association
Agreement. It is very important and symbolic that the ratification took
place synchronously with the European Parliament.
Thus, the phase of ratification of the Ukraine-EU Agreement is over.
The Ukrainian Parliament voted for ratification almost unanimously.
Only a few parliamentarians took no part in the voting. President of Ukraine
Petro Poroshenko once again stressed the great success which legally fixes
Ukraine's status on the path to the European integration.
The high-ranking officials of the EU have repeatedly stressed that
participation in Eastern Partnership (with AA/DCFTA being part of it) does
not lead to EU membership. Does your remark on the prospects of Ukraine's
EU membership mean that the latest developments around Ukraine have created
special conditions for the country?
I do not think so. I only say that the ratification of the Association
Agreement is one of the phases of the path of Ukraine's EU membership.
Naturally, it is early to say when it will become possible.
Nevertheless, on September 16 it was once again emphasized that the
ratification of the Agreement is nothing but a phase of Ukraine's prospect
to join the European Union.
In other words, you do not think that the situation around and in Ukraine
can speed up the given process, especially given that Ukraine has said the
last "good-bye" to the Soviet Union by ratifying the Association Agreement,
as President Poroshenko said...
The fact that the Supreme Rada and the European Parliament ratified the
Association Agreement almost simultaneously demonstrates the commitment of
Ukraine and the EU to promotion of further cooperation under the specified
agreement.
On September 16, the Supreme Rada signed two more important documents...
Indeed, two very important documents were adopted on September 16 by the
Supreme Rada. They concern the fulfillment of the President's peaceful plan
on settlement of the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. The first
document is on "Special procedure of local self-government in certain areas
of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts", and the second one is on "Prevention of
criminal prosecution, involvement in criminal, administrative prosecution
and punishment of the individuals, who took part in the events in Donetsk
and Luhansk Oblasts". These documents were adopted within the frames of the
arrangements reached by the Contact Group in Minsk on September 5.
Both documents aim first of all to stabilize the situation and give more
powers to the local self-government structures in Luhansk and Donetsk
Oblasts. The documents also provide an opportunity to use Russian as a
language of communication, as well as other languages in these oblasts. In
addition, the documents stipulate local elections in the specified oblasts.
When introducing these bills to
reiterated that they do not run
sovereignty and independence of
of all aimed at maintaining the
compelling stand.
the Parliament, the President of Ukraine
counter to the territorial integrity,
Ukraine. Therefore, these bills are first
specified three provisions. This is a
What role does Moscow play in these processes, e.g. in the Minsk agreement?
Russia's representative, Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov was present
at the Sept 5 signing of the Minsk agreement on settlement of the situation
in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. Therefore, it is natural that Ukraine's
leadership puts a particular focus on the fact that it is impossible to
settle the situation in two of our oblasts without Russia's participation.
In late August the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of
Ukraine enlarged the list of Russian journalists, who are denied entry to
Ukraine, to 49. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry is also going to ban the
entry for nearly 500 Russian statesmen, who approved the annexation of
Crimea. How efficient are such sanctions against Russia?
The world community is actively discussing the current developments in
Donetsk and Luhansk. The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly asked the
UN, NATO, the EU and the US to assist them in solving this problem. And the
sanctions against Russia are an element of their assistance. I think
Ukraine and the countries that have applied the sanctions expect certain
results from them.
A parade of sovereignties is being observed in Europe now: Scotland,
Catalonia, Flanders. In the post-Soviet space we have the examples of
Karabakh, Transnistria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. Is Crimea a part of
this trend or is it a particular case?
Crimea is Ukraine's territory, so, any referendum held there is illegal. De
jure Ukraine does not recognize Crimea as part of Russia.
Crimea is part of Ukraine. On Mar 27 2014 the UN General Assembly adopted a
resolution confirming Ukraine's territorial integrity and refusing to
recognize the change in the status of Crimea and Sevastopol.
Won't the AA/DCFTA signed and ratified by Ukraine have a negative effect on
the trade and economic relations between Ukraine and the CIS countries, for
instance, Armenia?
The trilateral meeting of the Ukraine-Russia-European Union Commission took
place on September 12. The Commission issued a statement saying that the
implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA)
component of the EU-Ukraine agreement is put off for a year till 31 Dec
2015. This demonstrates that the EU, Ukraine and Russia find mutually
acceptable solutions to prevent DCFTA from affecting Ukraine's cooperation
with Russia and other CIS countries. Though Armenia is going to join the
Eurasian Union and Ukraine has signed an Association Agreement with the
European Union, we are extremely interested in further development of the
Armenian-Ukrainian relations at the same level. My meetings in Armenia,
particularly, the meetings with the Armenian Minister of Economy have
reconfirmed the confidence that despite the agreements with different
economic structures, Ukraine and Armenia remain interested in development
of economic relations. In 2013 the Armenian-Ukrainian commodity turnover
totaled about $223 mln, and our countries are certainly interested in
expansion of economic partnership.
Have you got any data for the first half of 2014?
In the first half of 2014 the commodity turnover amounted to $95.6 mln. It
is less than in the same period of 2013. In the first half of 2014,
Ukraine's exports to Armenia totaled $75 million. In late 2014 the InterParliamentary Commission is planning to hold a session in Yerevan to settle
the economic problems that may arise during Armenia's accession to the
Eurasian Economic Union. I think Armenia's EAEU membership and Ukraine's
Association Agreement with the EU will cause no discrepancies between our
countries. Kyiv perfectly understands the role of the Armenian community in
Ukraine (350-400 thsd citizens) and we realize that the Armenian community
has its own stand on a number of issues. We are very grateful to the Armenian
community for its stand on the latest developments in our country. The fact
that one of Ukraine's citizens killed in Maidan was Armenian once again
demonstrates the Armenian community's active role in the development of the
state. The state, in turn, will do its best to give the Armenian community
an opportunity to satisfy its needs in culture, history, architecture, etc.