Ukraine, EU parliaments ratify Association Agreement simultaneously

Ukraine’s parliament ratified the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement simultaneously with the European Parliament on Sept. 16. The legislation drew 79 percent of the Ukrainian MPs in support and 77 percent of European MPs in support. More than 100 Maidan activists and nearly 900 Ukrainians soldiers gave their lives not only for Ukraine’s independence, but the nation’s right to integrate with Europe. “No nation paid such a high price for the right to be Europeans,” said afterwards Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht dismissed criticisms from opposing European MPs that it couldn’t be ratified without the immediate implementation of the free trade area (whose launch was delayed until Jan. 1, 2016). “If you want to have problems with Russia, then continue this line (argument) and talk about it not being possible to ratify the agreement in this case,” he said. “But that will be a historical mistake.” EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said it was the Ukrainian government that asked to delay the launch of the free trade area, a request that the EU accommodated. “The reasons were logical and understood,” he said. “The economy is undergoing serious challenges and they want to have more time to adopt the conditions and tariffs that we agreed to.”

The Russian government intends to approve legislation imposing duties on Ukrainian goods, despite agreeing to refrain from them in the Sept. 12 trilateral agreement with Ukraine and the EU, said on Sept. 16 Aleskei Uliukaev, the Russian economic development minister, as reported by the RIA Novosti news agency. The Russian government still plans to approve a resolution on imposing duties, only after which it will postpone them under the condition that the EU and Ukraine uphold their end of the deal, Uliukaev said.

In particular, the Russian government wants its Ukrainian counterparts to approve a legal act “that demonstrates that we understand the Brussels agreement identically.” Only in that instance will Russia extend customs-free trade until Jan. 1, 2016. The Russian government has already accused Ukraine and the EU of planning to conduct a disguised implementation of their free trade area.

Zenon Zawada: Indeed Poroshenko was on the mark when he compared the atmosphere surrounding the Association Agreement’s ratification to that of the declaration of Ukraine’s independence in 1991. However, one gets the creeping sense that it’s merely the start of a new phase in a trade war between Russia and Ukraine, with the EU caught in the middle. Though the Association Agreement can’t be amended, the Sept. 12 Brussels agreement opens the door to possible new tariffs and clauses, which the Ukrainian and EU diplomats downplayed but the Russian government expects to use to full advantage. We expect many trade disputes will emerge in the coming months.