Ukraine minister brushes off ‘eastern partnership’ plan

Ukraine’s minister for economy has said that any negotiations on closer integration should come from the EU as a whole, not from member states.

Responding to the proposal by Poland and Sweden to form an ‘eastern partnership’ with former Soviet states, Bohdan Danylyshyn said, “Any initiative that is being proposed should be grounded in the unity of the European institutions and the organic role of Ukraine in the EU.

“I would add that Ukraine at the moment is integrating in a highly accelerated manner into the EU.”

The partnership plan, due to be proposed during Monday’s ‘jumbo’ council meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers, would also include Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

“Ukraine is looking for fully fledged membership of the EU. We see ourselves as part of Europe and we believe Europeans feel the same. Year on year Ukraine persistently demonstrates that it is a part of Europe and its European aspirations,” Danylyshyn added.

Ukraine is currently negotiating a free trade zone with the EU as part of a more comprehensive political agreement. Although optimistic that Ukraine could soon fulfil the requirements on economic cooperation, he was more guarded on the timeline for completing FTA negotiations.

"As for economic and sectoral cooperation, we can try to finish by this year in order to show that we are serious," he told TheParliament.com on Monday. "A free trade agreement will take time."

But he added, "It is not in the interests of the EU to prolong this process."

According to Danylyshyn, trade with the EU makes up 34 per cent of Ukraine’s total trade, and more than 70 per cent of Ukraine’s foreign direct investment in 2007 came from the EU.

“Ukraine is trying to become an area for European investment,” said Danylyshyn. “The expansion of trade would be a real achievement for the creation of a free trade zone.”

He also said that Ukraine’s government was undertaking a programme of measures to curb record inflation (at 17.7 per cent for 2007) and speed up the privatisation of key industries.

Danylyshyn was on his first visit to Brussels as economy minister on Monday and Tuesday, where he met with commissioner for economic affairs Joaquín Almunia and head of parliament's delegation to the EU-Ukraine parliamentary cooperation committee, Adrian Severin.

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