No breakthroughs at todays EU-Ukraine Summit

Today top European Union and Ukrainian politicians will assemble in Kyiv for the annual EU-Ukraine Summit. The EU delegation will include European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule; the Ukrainian delegation will be headed by President Viktor Yanukovych. Brad Wells: We are not expecting any major breakthroughs or even initialing of the new EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and embedded Deep & Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. Concern in the EU over Ukraine’s democratic path and rule of law has sapped progress in recent months. At the same time, Ukrainian officials have recently complained about the lack of an explicit European membership prospective, but we do not rule out that this is just a face-saving tactic and not the true deal breaker. The next steps for the agreement are uncertain, but if initialed and signed in 2012, it could be ready for ratification by EU member parliaments by the start of 2013.