EU Council concludes ratification of Ukraine-EU Association Agreement

The EU Council concluded on July 11 the ratification of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement with an affirmative decision, said a statement on its website. Much of the agreement, which took ten years to draft and approve, is already active and its full implementation will begin on Sept. 1, 2017, which will include foreign policy and defense, the judiciary, taxation, finances, and education, the statement said. It took partial effect in September 2014 and its Free Trade Area was launched on Jan. 1, 2016.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met with EU leaders on July 12, the first of the two-day Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv, to coordinate actions on “how to ensure the maximally effective and quick achievement of the agreement’s goals and transition to the new stage of our partnership,” his Facebook page reported. “On Sept. 1 begins the new stage of our path to the EU. It’s a stage of deep and all-encompassing reforms that require maximum efforts and will unite all branches of Ukrainian government, business and civil society towards building a better European future for the Ukrainian people,” the statement said.

Zenon Zawada: It’s truly an accomplishment to have the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement fully ratified, particular after the Ukrainian people had to sacrifice more than a hundred lives in the winter of 2013-14 to demand that the agreement be signed. Since then, thousands of more lives have been lost as Ukrainians have fought to preserve their independence and statehood from Moscow.

Unfortunately, since his election in June 2014, President Poroshenko has not adequately responded to the demands of the Ukrainian people to introduce Western institutions to Ukraine. To his credit, he has improved transparency in governance, under Western insistence. But Poroshenko hasn’t reformed the corrupt judiciary and improved the rule of law, he hasn’t prosecuted crimes among the oligarchs nor has he significantly improved business conditions. So his comments about deep and all-encompassing reforms can’t be taken seriously.

We are already concerned about 2019 elections as the president has very little support among the public and resentment is very high. The situation is ripe for destabilization from Moscow.