"The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement should be initialed without delay," reads the European Parliament resolution which has been voted in today. The press release by the European Parliament states that the newly issued document includes recommendations to green-light the association "preferably by the end of this year".
The European Parliament issued the said recommendations for the Council of the EU and the European Commission. The European Parliament recommends signing the Association Agreement by July 2012, reports LB.ua. The legislative body of the EU advises to prepare the documents needed for ratification of the Association Agreement by the end of 2012. Additionally, the resolution includes recommendations to provide financial, technical, and legal assistance of the EU to Ukraine for the implementation of the Association Agreement.
According to the resolution, EU governments should approve the text of the Association Agreement at the summit on December 8-9, 2011. Parliament's recommendation stresses that extending the EU-Ukraine relations is in the best interests of both parties.
The document issued today will be forwarded to the Council of the EU, the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS). The Council of the EU is responsible for making a political decision on initialing the Association Agreement with Ukraine. Then the Agreement will be signed, following a joint proposal by the EU Commission and EEAS. After that, the document will be passed on to the EU Parliament for its formal consent and to each EU member state for ratification. "If all goes well, the Agreement could enter the ratification stage by the end of 2012," states the press release by the European Parliament.
The 21st round of the four year negotiations over the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine has been the final stage before any action is due. The negotiating parties stated that the talks held in Brussels on November 11, 2011, ended successfully. The spokesperson for the European Commission Peter Stano expressed the EU's satisfaction with the progress made, while the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov stated that Ukraine compromised over all the reasonable aspects. Ukraine and the EU have held association talks since March 5, 2007.
