1. The 17th EU-Ukraine Summit took place in Kyiv on 27
April 2015. The European Union was represented by President of the European
Council Donald Tusk and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude
Juncker. Ukraine was represented by President Petro Poroshenko. It was the
first Summit in the framework of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement,
implementation of which will represent a fundamental step in the process of deepening
the political association and economic integration of Ukraine with the EU on
the basis of respect for common values and their effective promotion.
2. The leaders welcomed the holding of free and fair Ukrainian Presidential
and Parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2014 in which the Ukrainian people
used their right to choose their own future and which marked an important step
in Ukraine’s aspirations to consolidate its democratic development in line with
its international commitments. The leaders recalled the unprecedented public
support for Ukraine’s political association and economic integration with the
EU as well as for its democratic aspirations. They remembered the tragic events
of early 2014 and paid tribute to all those who had lost their lives. They
reconfirmed the common objective to build a democratic, stable and prosperous
country with guaranteed human rights and fundamental freedoms for all its
citizens, and confirmed Ukraine’s commitment to building a deep and sustainable
democracy and market economy. The leaders acknowledged the European aspirations
of Ukraine and welcomed its European choice, as stated in the Association
Agreement.
3. The leaders welcomed the signing and the beginning of the provisional
application of the relevant parts of the Association Agreement and the progress
in preparation for the provisional application of the DCFTA as of 1 January
2016. They highlighted the importance of swift ratification of the Association
Agreement by Member States in accordance with their internal procedures. A
reinvigorated reform process will be crucial in view of Ukraine's political
association and economic integration with the EU.
4. The leaders welcomed Ukraine’s strong commitment to an ambitious reform
process as set out in Ukraine’s Strategy 2020, the Government Programme and the
Coalition Agreement. They also welcomed the EU's package to support Ukraine in
its efforts for launching this renewed reform process, as well as the EU’s
Ukraine Support Group and the EU Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector
Reform. In this context, leaders welcomed the update of the Association Agenda,
an important tool agreed jointly to facilitate the implementation and the
monitoring of the Association Agreement.
5. They welcomed the first reform steps taken by Ukraine in key areas,
notably constitutional reform, decentralisation, the fight against corruption,
the reform of the justice sector, the restructuring of the energy sector and
the improvement of the business climate. They underlined that implementation of
these reforms will be key and should rapidly achieve further concrete results. In particular, they welcomed:
- the launch of the work of the
constitutional commission;
- the progress made in the decentralisation
process (laws on voluntary merger and on cooperation of communities
adopted, the tax code and budget law amended)
- the amendment of the public broadcasting
law;
- the adoption of an anti-corruption package
including a national strategy (2014-2017) and of the laws on the Public
Prosecutor's Office as well as on the judiciary and the status of judges;
- the appointment of the Head of the National
Anti-corruption Bureau;
- the submission to the Parliament of laws on
civil service including in local self-government bodies;
- the adoption of the law on the Accounting
Chamber of Ukraine and the state aid framework, the amendments to the
public procurement law and the increased transparency in managing
state-owned companies;
- the ongoing energy price and tariff reform,
the adoption of a new gas market law in line with Energy Community Treaty
commitments and the submission to the Parliament of a law on the gas and
electricity regulatory authorities;
- the progress in reducing regulatory and
licensing requirements as to facilitate business.
6. The leaders agreed on the need to further accelerate the reform process
on key systemic issues such as:
- the finalisation of an inclusive
constitutional reform to enable a thorough Justice reform, decentralisation
process and the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court;
- the finalisation of the reform of the
legislative framework in due time before local elections;
- the fight against and the prevention of
corruption, through appropriate institutions and independent
investigations and the setting up of the National Centre for the
Prevention of Corruption;
- the increased transparency, accountability
and independence of the Judiciary;
- the professionalisation and
depoliticisation of the public administration including self-governance
bodies;
- the restructuring of the energy sector in
line with the Third Energy Package notably with Naftogaz unbundling and
increased attention to energy efficiency;
- the reform of the civilian security sector;
- the modernisation of the public finance
management system through a more transparent public procurement, improved
fiscal governance and stronger external audit.
7. In this context, the leaders welcomed the organisation by Ukraine of the
International Conference on Support for Ukraine the day after the Summit, which
would allow Ukraine to communicate its reform efforts to the wider world and
reflect with the international community on the next steps in the reform
process and the necessary support measures.
8. The leaders welcomed the EUR 11 billion financial support pledged by the
European Union and European Financial Institutions in March 2014 in support of
Ukraine’s political, economic and financial stabilisation. Since then, already
some EUR 6 billion has been mobilised in the form of loans and grants,
including the recently approved additional third macro-financial assistance
programme of EUR 1.8 billion and last week’s disbursement of the final tranche of
EUR 250 million under a previous programme. The leaders agreed to swiftly
conclude the Memorandum of Understanding and Loan Agreement of the third
macro-financial assistance programme to allow for a swift disbursement of the
first tranche possibly by mid-2015.
9. The leaders reiterated their strong condemnation of the clear violation
of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity by acts of aggression by the
Russian armed forces since March 2014. These actions are in clear breach of the
UN Charter and the OSCE Helsinki Final Act, as well as Russia's specific
commitments to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity under
the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and the bilateral Treaty on friendship,
cooperation and partnership of 1997.
10. The leaders reconfirmed their strong condemnation of the illegal
annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol by
the Russian Federation, which they will not recognise. Faced with this
continued violation of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity
of Ukraine and of international law, they confirmed their commitment to fully
implement a non-recognition policy, including through restrictive measures and
called upon UN Member States to respect the United Nations General Assembly
Resolution No. 68/262 of 27 March 2014. They affirm their deep concern at the
continuous military build-up and deterioration of the human rights situation in
the Crimean Peninsula, including the denial of free speech and the persecution
of persons belonging to minorities, including the Crimean Tatars. They call for
the provision of full, free and unrestricted access to the Autonomous Republic
of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol to international human rights actors.
11. The EU side reiterated its commitment to strongly support Ukraine's
unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. The leaders
underlined their strong support for the efforts aimed at de-escalation and a
political solution based on respect for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and
territorial integrity, in particular in the framework of the Normandy format.
They expressed their full support for the Minsk Agreements including the
Package of Measures of 12 February 2015, endorsed by UNSC Resolution 2202 of 17
February 2015.
12. The leaders called on all parties to swiftly and fully implement the
Minsk Agreements and honour their commitments and underlined the Russian
authorities' responsibility in this regard. They called for the urgent release
of all hostages and unlawfully detained persons, including Nadia Savchenko. In
this framework, they expressed their full support for the OSCE Special
Monitoring Mission, as well as the efforts of the Special Representative of the
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in the Trilateral Contact Group. The leaders called
upon all parties to cooperate with the international investigations and
criminal proceedings to hold to account those who are responsible for the
downing of MH17.
13. The leaders took note of the European Council Conclusions of 19 March
2015 regarding the EU restrictive measures against the Russian Federation.
14. The leaders stressed the need to challenge Russia's ongoing
disinformation campaigns and agreed on the need to strengthen their respective
strategic communication efforts.
15. The leaders deplored the massive humanitarian crisis. Ukraine thanked
the EU and its Member States for the significant humanitarian support provided.
The leaders agreed to enhance their relief efforts to address the needs of the
population affected by the conflict, wherever they are and discussed prospects
for a more active use of the resources provided by the international community.
They agreed on the necessity to provide social assistance to the internally
displaced persons at short and long term as well as to improve the coordination
mechanism and address remaining legal and administrative obstacles to
unhindered international humanitarian assistance to those who need
it.
16. The leaders welcomed the progress in the trilateral talks between the
EU, Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the delivery of gas from Russia to
Ukraine with the goal to increase the security of gas supply for Ukraine and
its citizens as well as ensuring stable, sufficient and uninterrupted transit
of gas to the EU. While underlining the importance of a stronger energy
partnership between Ukraine and the EU, taking into account international
commitments, including in the field of nuclear energy safety, the leaders
expressed their readiness to continue cooperation between Ukraine and the EU on
urgent energy sector reforms in Ukraine, on the joint modernisation and
operation of the Ukrainian gas transportation system and storages and on
securing gas supplies from Europe to Ukraine, and specifically welcomed the
adoption of the new gas law. They agreed to further cooperate in promoting
market integration, including through the development of interconnections and
standard Interconnection Agreements between Transmission System Operators of
Ukraine and bordering EU Member-States.
17. The leaders look forward to the provisional application of the Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) between the EU and Ukraine starting on 1
January 2016 and the positive impact its implementation will bring about. They
also noted the importance of continuing the trilateral consultations on
EU-Ukraine DCFTA implementation in a constructive manner, using the existing
flexibilities available to the contracting parties in the DCFTA.
18. The leaders reconfirmed their commitment to achieve the shared objective
of visa-free travel provided that conditions for well-managed and secure
mobility set out in the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan are in place. They
welcomed the progress made by Ukraine underlining the necessity for a full and
effective implementation of all benchmarks and emphasising in this regard the
importance of the upcoming release of the next progress report on the Visa
Liberalisation Action Plan ahead of the Riga Summit.
19. The leaders welcomed the deepening of EU-Ukraine cooperation notably
with the meeting of the first Association Council, which put in place the
institutional framework of enhanced cooperation, as well as the signing of the
agreement associating Ukraine to Horizon 2020. Leaders praised the deepening of
people-to-people contacts notably through Ukraine's participation in the
Erasmus+ programme supporting student mobility, academic cooperation and youth
exchanges. In addition, they welcomed the willingness of both sides to
associate Ukraine to Creative Europe, the Research and Training Programme of
Euratom (2014-2018) and the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises
and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME 2014-2020). The leaders
reconfirmed the importance of concluding the EU–Ukraine Agreement on Common Aviation
Area, as referred in the Association Agreement, at the earliest possible date
in 2015.
20. The leaders exchanged views on international and regional matters,
notably in light of the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga and the
review of the European Neighbourhood Policy. They highlighted the importance of
renewing constructive engagement on the peaceful settlement of the
Transnistrian conflict with respect to the 5+2 settlement talks. The
leaders welcomed the role of the European Commission’s Border Mission to
Moldova and Ukraine in the development of border management and reforming of
the border and customs services of Ukraine, welcoming the extension of the
mandate of the mission for another two years until December 2017. They also
expressed satisfaction with the increase in Ukraine's alignment with the EU
Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) declarations as well as with
Ukraine’s participation in the EU-led Naval Military Operation (EUNAVFOR
Somalia Atalanta) and in the EU Battlegroups in 2014. The leaders welcomed the
launch of the negotiations on the administrative arrangement between the
European Defence Agency and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
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