BRUSSELS. April 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Union has been active and open to discussing potential Russian concerns over the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area of the Association Agreement (AA/DCFTA), Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations has said.
“The EU-Ukraine bilateral DCFTA does not impose a false choice on Kyiv. Those who say so are wrong, and may have their own agenda,” he said, commenting the Bertelsmann’s report “How to help Ukraine’s Economy Reform and Grow.”
The study goes on to suggest that an at least partial restoration of trade links with Russia and the so-called Eurasian Economic Union will be important to Ukraine’s economic recovery.
“I’d like to say a few words about trade. Your study rightly recognises that integration with Russia and the EU ‘are not in principle mutually exclusive,” Hahn said.
“The European Union is not looking for an exclusive economic relationship with Ukraine, and never has. The approximation with EU standards will not prevent Ukraine trading with Russia: the EU itself remains a major trading partner for Russia,” he said.
“What the DCFTA does do, is help Ukraine approximate to the EU’s world class norms and standards – just as Poland did 20 years ago – in ways that will ultimately boost its competitiveness and foreign direct investment. And, while the EU already unilaterally removed most tariffs in April 2014, Ukraine will benefit from some transitional periods after the DCFTA enters into force, before it is obliged to match this completely,” he said.
“Let me say that the European Union has been active and open to discussing potential Russian concerns. We are convinced that any justified Russian concern can already be addressed within the flexibility offered by the DCFTA, as it stands. But, there is no possibility for renegotiating the agreement, which a large number of Member States have already ratified,” Hahn said. “Change in Poland required political will and tough choices, and cooperation between political parties, Government and Parliament… We count on the current pro-reform and pro-EU government, and majority in the Rada to act now and seize the moment. Reforms are tough, and public opposition to some necessary but painful changes has to be faced. This requires courage and leadership,” he said.
“Since Maidan we have mobilised around EUR 6 billion taking together macro financial assistance, grant aid and support from European financial institutions. The majority of this funding effort is tied to reform conditions, which we seek to co-ordinate with others in the donor and investor community,” Hahn said.
The EU and Ukraine have agreed on 10 reform priorities under the joint Association Agenda and our conditionalities help to ensure the reform process is driven forward on: constitutional and electoral reforms; combatting corruption; judicial reform; public administration reform; deregulation; public procurement reform; tax reform; audit; and energy sector reform, he said.
“Above all, if Ukraine wants an investment-led recovery and to send a clear signal to its friends, it has to get to grips with corruption,” he said.
“The litmus test of the fight against corruption will be public procurement and the privatisation of State Owned Enterprises. The Support Group will be advising on how e-procurement – simple, open and transparent procedures online – can combine with effective oversight to prevent abuse… As part of a wider effort to rebalance the Ukrainian economy away from its current dependence on big business in the hands of the few, the relevant Rada Committee has consulted the Commission on the development of a new law in support of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises,” he said.
