Brussels, 19 July 2016
Bonjour, Messieurs-dames.
I had the pleasure to have the new, fresh, brand new
Ukrainian Prime Minister in my office. It is three months ago that he took
office and I was very eager to meet him, and this was done today.
Our Ukrainian friends have to know that they are not
alone, because the European Union stands ready to support Ukraine in more or
less all the matters – mainly as far the territorial integrity of the country
is concerned, the sovereignty of Ukraine, the independence of Ukraine. That is
the reason why the European Union has prolonged the sanctions which are
dedicated to Russia.
As I explained the other day to President Putin: the more
Minsk implementation there will be, the less sanctions there will be. I was
discussing in a very constructive approach the implementation of the Minsk
Agreement with the Prime Minister, mainly and namely as far as the local
elections in the Eastern part of Ukraine are concerned. Like the Ukrainian
Prime Minister, Johannes Hahn and myself we share the opinion that as long as
security measures of an impressive magnitude are not in place in Eastern
Ukraine, there can be no local elections.
Of course, we were discussing the Association
Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. We are engaged in a process –
mainly Commissioner Hahn and others – to check ways and means, possibilities
and instruments with our Dutch friends in order to come to a final agreement as
far as this important piece of European and Ukrainian policy is concerned. We
are encouraging the Ukrainian government to pursue the reform process which is
under way. We are satisfied with the speed and with the content of the reforms
which are pushed forward by the Ukrainian government. More has to be done. But
when it comes to reforms everywhere in Europe, the reform process has to be
accelerated. The same applies to Ukraine. But we are so far satisfied with what
was undertaken by Ukraine.
On visa liberalisation there is nothing new. The
Commission has put forward its proposal concerning the visa liberalisation.
This will be done as soon as the Council of Ministers and the European
Parliament will have approved the proposal of the Commission.
I will stop here, Prime Minister, and then you can
pursue. And then Mr Hahn will tell us everything we are not aware of.
No comments:
Post a Comment