The 22nd Ukraine-EU summit will be the first bilateral EU summit with a third country held physically in Brussels since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The European Council said on Friday that the EU side will be represented by Presidents of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Ukraine will be represented by President Volodymyr Zelensky. High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell will also participate.
During the meeting, the leaders will review bilateral relations, including the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the EU support to Ukraine; the next steps in the implementation of the Association Agreement, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area; the state of reforms in Ukraine.
Leaders will also discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine, recent developments in Belarus and further regional and foreign policy issues.
It is expected that at 15:30 Brussels (16:30 Kyiv time) on Tuesday, EU leaders will meet the Ukrainian president, and at 17:50 Brussels time (18:50 Kyiv time) a press conference is scheduled to be held in the virtual mode.
The EU-Ukraine Summit will take place in Brussels on October 6.
The corresponding agreement was reached during a telephone conversation between Presidents of the European Council and Ukraine, Charles Michel and Volodymyr Zelensky, Michel said on his Twitter page. “In my call with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and I agreed to meet, together with President Von der Leyen in Brussels on 6 October for the 22nd EU-Ukraine summit,” he wrote.
Previously, the summit was scheduled for October 1.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the European Union Mykola Tochytsky has announced the signing of five documents on cooperation between Kyiv and Brussels at the Ukraine-EU summit. “There will be five documents,” Tochytsky said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday. According to him, in particular, the documents will concern technical cooperation programs regarding the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU, as well as decentralization and the fight against corruption.
In addition, a document on the work of infrastructure projects in Donbas is to be signed.
“The EU sent a group of experts who traveled from Mariupol to Zaporizhia and offered a project sum of 10 million for infrastructure projects, opening a special EU office in Mariupol,” said Tochytsky.
The EU is aware of the decision of the Ukrainian authorities to ban Austrian journalist Christian Wehrschutz from entering Ukraine and expects that such decisions will be taken in accordance with fundamental rights and freedoms, including the European Convention on Human Rights. The EU press secretary said in his comments, handed over to Interfax-Ukraine in Brussels on Friday.
Having informed that this fact is known in Brussels, the agency’s source noted that the EU attaches great importance to freedom of expression and the media. We expect that any of such decisions will include careful consideration of the rights to freedom of expression. We also expect the Ukrainian authorities to refrain from imposing any unnecessary restrictions on the free flow of information and freedom of the media, the agency’s source said.
At the same time, the press secretary recalled that the EU fully supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Protection of national security and citizens should be carried out in full compliance with fundamental rights and freedoms, including the European Convention on Human Rights, he stressed.
Earlier, First Deputy Head of the Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy Olha Chervakova reported that the Security Service of Ukraine had prohibited head of the Ukrainian bureau of the Austrian ORF TV channel Christian Wehrschutz from entering the country because of the “threat he poses to national security.”
Brussels Airlines, the subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa Group, will start flying to Kyiv from October 17, 2018, Lufthansa General Manager for Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan Rene Koinzack said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday. “The first flights will be on October 17. Brussels and the capital of Ukraine will be connected, which is very important for us,” he said.
Koinzack said that Brussels Airlines also fly to Africa, which creates additional opportunities for Ukrainians.
Lufthansa Group in the field of passenger air transportation, along with the same name brand, includes Austrian Airlines, Swiss Airlines, Eurowings (including Germanwings) and Brussels Airlines, as well as a share in Turkey’s SunExpress. In addition, the group includes logistics, technical and service companies.
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will soon start flights from Kyiv to Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais Airports.
“Our newest added destinations of Wizz from Kyiv include: Dortmund, Memmingen (Munich West,) Brussels-Charleroi, Paris-Beauvais and Copenhagen,” says a message sent to the airline’s customers on Thursday.
At the same time, flights from Kyiv to Brussels-Charleroi and Paris-Beauvais are not currently shown in the booking system, while flights to Dortmund and Memmingen (Munich West) have been serviced by the company for several years, and those to Copenhagen since August 2017.
As reported, Wizz Air in January-May 2018 transported 425,000 passengers to/from Ukraine, which is almost twice as many as in the same period of 2017. “From Kyiv, we offer 1.3 million passenger seats this year, which is 79% up. And in total from Ukraine this year, we offer 1.67 million passenger seats,” Head of Corporate Communications at Wizz Air Sorina Ratz said late in June.
