KYIV. July 11 (Interfax-Ukraine) – European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and European Commission Vice President Federica Mogherini will visit Kyiv to represent the European Union at the 19th EU-Ukraine summit on July 12-13.
European Commission’s vice-president for financial stability and financial services Valdis Dombrovskis and European Commissioners Johannes Hahn and Cecilia Malmstrom will also take part in the summit, the European Union’s Delegation to Ukraine said.
President Petro Poroshenko will lead the Ukrainian delegation.
During the summit, the chiefs of state and heads of EU institutions are expected to acknowledge the completion of the ratification of the EU-Ukraine association agreement and the recent introduction of visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens. The summit participants will also discuss progress of Ukrainian reforms and their support by the EU. The agenda also includes the conflict and crisis in eastern Ukraine, regional and foreign policy issues, among them relations with Russia, energy security, and preparations for an Eastern Partnership summit scheduled for November 2017 in Brussels.
The EU-Ukraine summit plenary session is to open at 11:00 a.m. on July 13, which is to be followed by a press conference to sum up the event’s outcomes.
Some information possessed by Interfax-Ukraine indicates that there is still no clarity about a joint statement that is supposed to be adopted in conclusion of the summit. Some sources said the Netherlands blocked a statement provision saying that the European Union recognizes Ukraine’s European aspirations. Kyiv has reportedly insisted on this wording and warned that, if the EU refuses to include it in the joint statement’s final text, it may even refuse to adopt the statement itself.
