On Thursday 24 November Donald Tusk, President of the European Council hosted the 18th EU-Ukraine summit. He represented the EU together with Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission. President Petro Poroshenko represented Ukraine.
Reforms
Leaders' discussions focused on reforms in Ukraine. Since the last summit in 2015 Ukraine has worked on an ambitious reform agenda, with strong EU support.
"We highly rate the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities, including those of President Poroshenko, to implement large-scale reforms in extremely difficult conditions. Ukraine's success will be the success of all of Europe," said President Donald Tusk at the press conference following the summit.
The November summit confirmed a further €104 million in support for public administration reform. The representatives of the EU and Ukraine also signed:
- a financing agreement 'EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine' (€15 million support)
- a Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic Energy Partnership between the EU and Ukraine
Visa liberalisation
The summit was an occasion to welcome recent steps towards visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens when travelling to the EU and vice versa. On 17 November the Council agreed its position, demonstrating its commitments to visa-liberalisation for Ukraine, ahead of negotiations with the European Parliament.
"I am happy that all EU Member States decided Ukraine is ready for a visa-free regime. This decision is a recognition of Ukraine's achievements in meeting European standards," said President Tusk.
Crisis and conflict
EU and Ukraine leaders also discussed the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
"Europe must do everything in its power to make sure that Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and stability are preserved," said President Tusk. "We continue to support the Minsk process and our sanctions are linked with the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements," he added.
At the end of the meeting President of Ukraine invited the EU leaders to come to Kiev for the next EU-Ukraine summit in 2017.
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