Ukraine government reduces its request for EU loans

The Ukrainian government reduced its request for EU loans to EUR 10 bln, a fraction of the EUR 160 bln that was proposed during the Association Agreement negotiations, the Kommersant-Ukraina newspaper reported. Between EUR 3 and 5 bln is enough for modernization projects, First Vice Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov told reporters on December 3. The prior week, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych told EU leaders his country needed EUR 20 bln per year.

A high-ranking EU diplomat told the Interfax-Ukrayina news agency on December 3 that he wants the Ukrainian government “to stop playing with new numbers every day that have no basis” and to begin a constructive dialogue. Moreover, the EU won’t consider the Ukrainian government’s proposal to include Russian diplomats in discussions on the Association Agreement. “We said repeatedly: there can’t be trilateral negotiations for a bilateral agreement, but again you repeat: the EU must. No, the EU doesn’t have to because it can’t. That contradicts the main principles of bilateral agreements,” said the high-ranking diplomat.

The EU won’t renegotiate the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area that it initialized with the Ukrainian government, said Maja Kosijancic, the spokeswoman for EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, as reported by the Ukrayinska Pravda news site on December 3. The prior day, both Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov indicated they wanted to amend the EU free trade agreement that was initialized in July 2012. Kosijancic didn’t confirm Azarov’s claim that a Ukrainian delegation would be visiting Brussels soon. “The date and place have yet to be agreed upon through diplomatic channels and when that agreement is reached, it will be announced,” she said.

Zenon Zawada: All these embarrassing examples demonstrate the incompetence with which the Ukrainian government has approached the negotiations for the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. They lend credibility to the growing view among EU leaders that the agreement won’t be signed for as long as Yanukovych is president.