The PO announced the failure to sign an important agreement with the EU

The reasons for not signing the agreement on a common airspace between Ukraine and the European Union are bureaucratic, said Igor Zhovkva.

The agreement on a common aviation space between Ukraine and the European Union, also known as the “open skies” or “visa-free” agreement, will not be signed on February 11 at a meeting of the Ukraine-EU Association Council. This was announced on Wednesday 3 February by Igor Zhovkva, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, diplomatic adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, reports Evropeyskaya Pravda.

“I would like to insist on the agreement on a joint aviation space. At the summit, the EU leaders, that is, the President of the European Council, Mr Michel, promised us that the agreement would be concluded in early 2021.” It should have been concluded during the Association Council on February 11. From what I understand, based on the information our mission transmits, and what we heard from the representatives of the European Union, we will unfortunately not conclude this agreement in February. 11, “Zhovkva said during a commission meeting on coordinating the implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

According to him, the reasons for not signing are bureaucratic. The official added that President Zelensky discussed this issue in a conversation with the head of the European Commission, but did not receive an explanation as to why the agreement would not be signed.

“It was only said that Ms President would check again, once again to see how quickly this bureaucratic procedure can be adopted and the agreement can be signed,” Zhovkva noted, adding that opportunities may now appear to sign the agreement in March.

As a reminder, this agreement was initialed in 2013, but has yet to be signed due to the dispute between Great Britain and Spain over the ownership of Gibraltar. Britain’s exit from the EU provided the opportunity for an early signing, but at the Ukraine-EU summit in October, Brussels again postponed the signing, citing the unfinished “divorce” process with London.

Earlier it was reported that Kiev will work on the introduction of three more “visa-free” on the way to the European Union: industrial, food and aviation. Olga Stefanishina, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, said so.

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