Ukraine, EU sign economic part of Association Agreement
Kiev, June 27 (AZERTAC). Ukraine and the European Union have signed the economic chapter of the Association Agreement, which envisages the creation of a free trade area.
The document was signed at the EU summit in Brussels on June 27 by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the heads of state and government of the EU member states, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
The economic part of the agreement envisages Ukraine's deep economic integration with the EU, as well as the creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area.
The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement must be ratified by all 28 EU member states and Kyiv.
However, the European Council earlier approved the provisional application of certain parts of the agreement, which will take effect even before all EU member states ratify the document. These parts include the provisions of the free trade area, which will take effect, according to expectations of the parties, from the autumn of 2014 after the ratification of the document by the Ukrainian parliament.
The political chapter of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was signed on March 21 this year.
Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Natalia Halibarenko said on June 26 that the provisional application of most provisions of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement would begin before the ratification of the document by EU member states and after its ratification by Ukraine.
“The EU wants the agreement to be ratified in the near future, and the Ukrainian government also wants the parliament to approve the Association Agreement, because even without ratification by other EU member states, the process of its provisional application is launched,” she said.
Halibarenko said that the provisional application of the agreement begin on the first day of the second month after the date of the transfer to the EU of the instrument on the ratification of the agreement by Ukraine.
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