The 19th Summit between the european Union and Ukraine took place in Kyiv. The summi took place against the backdrop of the finalisation of the ratification of the European Union – Ukraine Association agreement.
It took place exactly one month and two days after the historic celebrations of visa free travel for Ukrainian citizens with a biometric passport to the Schengen area.
The President of the european Commission with the President of the european Council, are represented the european Union in front of the Ukrainian President Poroshenko.
Speaking at the joint press conference, the President of the european Commission said:
More steps have been taken in the last three years than in the previous twenty.
Ukraine should be proud of what it has achieved
In order to continue to implement all the benckmarks of its visa liberalisation action plan, European and Ukrainian citizens will have the opportunity for increased interactions and contacts, bringing our populations closer than ever before.
In the first month, over 95.000 Ukraininan citizens visited the Schengen area under the new conditions.
Since the last Eu- Ukraine summit, which took place in Brussels in November 2016, a significant amount of progress has been made, bringing positive change to the lives of Ukrainian and european citizens.
The ratification of the Association agreement, including the deep and comprehensive free trade area, two days ago, will mean its full entry into force on 1 September 2017. The association agreemet provides the blueprint for Ukraine’s ambitious reform path and fosters trade and investment between the european Union and Ukraine.
After ore than one year of provisional application of the Association agreement, trade has grown by 10%, cementing the european Union as Ukraine’s first trading partner.
In addition, leaders welcomed the political agreement to grant autonomous trade measures for Ukraine, which would further boost bilaterla trade through the elimination of additional tariffs and customs duties on agricultural and industrial products.
Moreover, the leaders assessed the state of play in Ukraine’s implementation of its ambitious reform efforts. The Ukrainian authorities have undertaken intense and unprecedented reforms in many areas, including decentralisation, public broadcasting, anti-corruption, the judiciary, police reform, and so on.
This has been achieved despite severe security challenges caused by the ongoing conflict in the east of Ukraine.
At the Summit, european leaders stressed the importance of continuing such efforts and strengthening the implementation of reforms in crucial areas such as anti-corruption.
In this context, the Summit provided the European Union and Ukraine to identify further reform priorities for the coming months and years and the President Poroshendo outlined the Stategy 2020 and the Government’s Action plan 2017-2020.
Both sides agreed on the importance of continuing to accelerate reforms and their sustained implementation.
The european Union is dedicating unprecedented support to Ukraine, which is linked to Ukraine’s continued reform efforts.
At the Summit, the European Union announced the preparation of €200 million of priority programmes for 2017 to
- support conflict-affected areas in the east of Ukraine
- energy efficiency programmes
- contributions to the Energy efficiency fund established by Ukraine
- public finance management
- support to key reforms
- the implementation of the Association agreement via a technical cooperation facility
Following the disbursement in April of the second tranche of European macro-financial assistance, worth €600 million, european leaders stressed the need for the Ukrainian authorities to accelerate implementation of all outstanding structural reform measures linked to the macro-financial assistance that includes all relevant anti-corruption commitments, the adoption of legislation in the energy and financial sectors, the repeal of the wood export ban, to bring an end to increased export duties on scrap metal and social assistance and services to internally displaced people.
The european Union reiterated its continued and unwavering support to Ukraine’s unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. The european Union condemns and does not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation.
Leaders reiterated the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements as the basis for a sustainable and peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
They also discussed the continuing deterioration of human rights situation in non-government-controlled areas of the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as the violation of the rights of persons who do not recognise the illegal annexation, Crimean Tatars, as well as Ukrainians and persons belonging to other ethnic and religious groups.