Ukraine-EU Summit: what was decided on visa-free travel, COVID-19 vaccine and financial aid

For Zelensky, the Ukraine-EU summit was the second (photo: facebook.com/president.gov.ua)

No visa is out of the woods, renewal of the Association Agreement, fight against corruption, ambitions of Volodymyr Zelenskiy on membership of the European Union – these were the highlights of the last Ukraine-EU summit. Read more in the RBK-Ukraine material.

The current 22nd summit between Ukraine and the European Union became President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s second. Now there is a reason for a substantive conversation with the leaders of the European Union: about Zelensky’s state course and how Ukraine, under his leadership, follows the ideas of European integration.

Regression risk

In the last weeks before the summit, relations between Kiev and Brussels have deteriorated somewhat. The reason was the situation around anti-corruption organizations, whose independence is very important to Europeans. Furthermore, many EU support programs are directly related to the fight against corruption.

The decision of the Constitutional Court, according to which the appointment of Artem Sytnik as head of NABU was recognized as unconstitutional, greatly alarmed Europeans. EU Ambassador Matti Maasikas in an interview with RBC-Ukraine said that the speed with which the Ukrainian authorities will eliminate the resulting legal uncertainty will be an indicator of the sincerity of Kiev’s intentions.

Much more concern in Brussels was caused by the situation surrounding the election of a new head of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to replace the retired Nazar Kholodnitsky. The members of the competition committee for the selection of the head of the SAP, which were approved by the Verkhovna Rada in September, have quite specific complaints from Ukraine’s western partners, in particular, about their lack of adequate experience in fighting corruption. .

The EU started talking about the threat of visa-free travel for Ukraine (photo: facebook.com/DPSUkraine)

During the discussions, they even spoke about the possible loss of Ukraine’s visa-free travel if the situation around SAP is not corrected. Such a threat was announced by German MEP Viola von Cramon. On the eve of the summit, together with two colleagues, she wrote an open letter in which she strongly criticized the anti-corruption policy of Kiev and once again recalled the risk of losing visa-free travel; however, not for all Ukrainians, but only for “individual oligarchs and politicians.”

The day before the summit, a source from the EU government structures also expressed concern about the latest trends in Ukraine in the fight against corruption. “Where is the landing of those responsible for corruption?” – The European official was outraged, although he pointed out that he still does not see backsliding in the anti-corruption field, although there is such a risk.

Mutual agreement

Of course, the issue of reforms in Ukraine, in particular the fight against corruption itself, was one of the central themes of the summit. In this regard, the main victory of Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation – the question of canceling visa-free travel or even the possibility of such a cancellation – was not mentioned in the joint statement after the summit.

On the contrary, we are talking about the fact that Ukraine and the EU “wait” when epidemiological conditions allow a return to the usual visa-free travel regime. However, they did mention the need to accelerate reform efforts and adhere to visa-free travel criteria, one of which is the independent work of anti-corruption institutions.

“The Europeans said that SAP, NABU and the courts are very important issues for them, they look at how everything is going and hope it is good. Denis Malyuska (Minister of Justice, – ed.) at the request of the president, he spoke about bills to solve existing problems, “a source familiar with the negotiations told RBC-Ukraine.

The main strategic achievement of the summit was the de facto agreement of the European Union to start work on updating the Association Agreement, particularly in the field of telecommunications, ecology, finance, etc. The Ukrainian authorities have been talking for several months about the desire to adapt the Agreement to the current realities of cooperation and trade between Ukraine and the EU.

“The main thing that was agreed at the summit is that the Agreement is a bilateral document, its implementation requires steps not only from the Ukrainian side, but also from the European. At the summit, we gave the EU a document that provides a legal format. to update the Association Agreement “. , – said Olga Stefanishina, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, in a comment to RBC-Ukraine.

Overall, the summit was positive for Ukraine (photo: facebook.com/president gov ua)

According to her, we are talking about reviewing the preferential terms of trade, updating the annexes to the Agreement and providing Ukraine with an internal market regime for trade in certain goods and services. In particular, the signing of an agreement on “visa-free industrial travel”.

In addition, experts and specialists from the government office for European integration and the Ministry of Economy will hold consultations on updating the Agreement. And for the December meeting of the EU-Ukraine Association Council, specific proposals will be developed.

“At the summit, we agreed on the entire text. In fact, all the results that we expected were reflected in the final declaration of the summit. Perhaps in less ambitious formulations, but more importantly, there is a basis for further work. And the issues update of the Agreement and Ukraine’s participation in EU green policy, dialogue in the cyber field, sectoral issues on the digital and energy market, etc. were reflected in a joint statement ”, summarized Stefanishina.

At the same time, according to the newspaper, around the wording of the final declaration, the preparation of which began long before the summit, there were quite heated discussions, including with individual EU member states, mainly with France. First, they addressed issues related to the further integration of Ukraine into the EU internal market.

Another important outcome of the summit for Ukraine is the great attention paid to the fight against Russian aggression, the situation in Crimea and Donbass. Furthermore, Ukraine’s peaceful efforts in the Normandy format and the Trilateral Group in Minsk are fully approved, while the responsibility for further fueling the conflict in eastern Ukraine clearly rests with Russia.

At the end of the summit, Ukraine can also add to its asset the royal consent of the EU to help Ukraine obtain a coronavirus vaccine when one is created. And also the signing of a series of agreements on financial assistance to Ukraine for various purposes: from energy efficiency to the development of civil society.

Great ambitions

Therefore, the summit that took place can be considered a success for Ukraine. Undoubtedly, its results will be actively used by the authorities also for national political purposes, as a counterargument in discussions with part of the opposition, claiming that under Zelensky, Ukraine suspended its path to Europe.

At the same time, both in the final statement and in the post-summit press conference, European leaders reminded Ukraine that there is still much to do. In particular, in matters of judicial reform, de-oligarchy and the fight against corruption.

They also recalled that the consumer focus on the European Union as a continuous source of funding will not work. At a press conference, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, was asked to explain his phrase that “the EU is not an ATM.” After a recent visit to Ukraine, this phrase appeared in his article after the trip, but eventually disappeared from there.

“The assistance we provide to Ukraine is not without demands. We are not just a bank. We are not just an organization that distributes money like this. We want to develop Ukraine as a prosperous and protected country,” Borrell explained.

Borrell explained the phrase “The EU is not an ATM” (photo: flickr.com/fotomaec)

At the same time, the Ukrainian government does not hide its far-reaching ambitions on the issue of European integration. As the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmitry Kuleba, said after the summit, during the talks, Zelensky told the EU representatives that Ukraine is a future member of the European Union.

According to the newspaper, the Ukrainian president further developed this idea, noting that Ukrainians understand that EU membership will not come tomorrow, but they cannot wait for this endlessly either. And this passage was quite unexpected for the European partners.

“The summit for its part was markedly positive, for our part, of course, too. We are doing well with the European Union,” a source familiar with the summit told RBC-Ukraine.

Obviously, the main task of the Ukrainian authorities at this stage is not to relax, bearing in mind that further European integration will proceed by itself. And listen to individual warnings from Europeans, so far expressed with care and precision.