Ukraine set to sign EU pact that sparked revolution
Source: theguardian.com
Kiev to sign association agreement with European Union, which Viktor Yanukovych backed away from in November
It was the document that started a revolution and ended up bringing Europe to the brink of war. Ukraine’s association agreement with the European Union, a mainly economic document setting up a free trade area that nevertheless has political and strategic ramifications, will finally be signed on Friday.
Along with Georgia and Moldova, two other post-Soviet countries keen to move out of Moscow’s orbit, Kiev will sign the deal with Brussels to establish a free-trade area and introduce a raft of measures designed to synchronise economies with EU nations, as well as improve rule of law and human rights.
It does not guarantee eventual EU membership, but is seen both in the countries themselves and in Moscow as a major step westwards.
The European commission president, José Manuel Barroso, said this week that the agreements were of "huge strategic importance", coming as they do amid unrest in eastern Ukraine.
"The agreements, the most ambitious negotiated so far by the European Union, aim to deepen political and economic relations with the EU," said Barroso. "We will need to remain active and vigilant regarding our eastern neighbourhood, in particular after the signature of the association agreements where our responsibility increases and not diminishes."
Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, will travel to Brussels on Friday to sign the agreement. "This is what we have fought for over recent months and years," he said. "This work will be as difficult and responsible, but I am confident that we will do it very well."
The signing comes four months after Viktor Yanukovych was ousted by a popular revolt that started when he performed a U-turn over signing the agreement last November, citing the need for further negotiations with Russia.
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Read the full article at: theguardian.com
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