The heads of state and government of the 28 member countries of the European Union, the leaders of the European Union, and Ukraine’s acting Prime Minister Arsenii Yatseniuk signed the political part of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine in Brussels on Friday.
Copies of the documents were signed by Yatseniuk, the European Council’s President Herman Van Rompuy, the European Commission’s President Jose Manuel Barroso, and the heads of 28 member countries of the European Union.
As reported, the full association agreement with the European Union, including its political and economic parts (establishment of a free trade area), was expected to be signed in Lithuania at the end of November 2013, but Mykola Azarov’s Cabinet of Ministers suspended the process of preparation for this on November 21. This prompted the protests in the country that led to the departure of President Viktor Yanukovych three months later and the creation of an interim government, which restored Ukraine’s pro-European policy.
The previous authorities said they refused to sign the association agreement with the European Union because it would lead to significant losses for exporters of goods to Russia, which is one of the main trading partners of Ukraine. Russia said that it would have to revise the terms for import of Ukrainian goods to protect its market. However, supporters of the association agreement with the EU perceived this as pressure aimed at persuading Ukraine to join the Customs Union of the Common Economic Area and thus prevent it from moving closer to the European Union.
After the change of government in Ukraine in late February, the European Union announced its readiness to sign the political part of the association agreement. The agreement on establishment of a free trade area is expected to be approved after the May 25 presidential elections in Ukraine and the formation of a new government.
However, the European Union has decided to unilaterally lower its tariffs on Ukrainian goods until November 1, 2014, ahead of the signing of the agreement on a free trade area. This decision has not yet entered into force. Experts estimate that the Ukrainian exporters will save EUR 500 million as a result of the reduction of the tariffs, of which almost EUR 400 million applies to the agricultural sector.
