“Without prejudice to a future political decision on possible signature, the Commission adopted today the proposals for Council Decisions on the signing and provisional application as well as the conclusion of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which will be transmitted to the Council for further processing. The Commission accompanied the two proposals with a political statement. With today's decision, the EU is taking a necessary preparatory step in order to be technically ready for the possible signing of the Association Agreement (including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area – DCFTA) at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius in six months from now. The EU has underlined that it will only sign if Ukraine creates the necessary political circumstances,” indicated European Commission.
“Today's adoption of the Commission's proposals is a necessary step in order to enable the European Union technically to move ahead with the necessary preparatory arrangements to enable a possible signing at the Vilnius Summit. But this step does not prejudge in any way the Council's decision.
The Commission takes the view that the signing of the Agreement remains conditional on determined action and tangible progress by Ukrainian authorities on all of the benchmarks set out by the 10 December 2012 Council Conclusions. The Commission together with the EEAS will continue to monitor Ukraine's progress.
It is now up to the Ukrainian authorities to address the outstanding issues in order to enable the signing of the Agreement. This would represent a historic breakthrough in EU-Ukraine relations,” is noted in the statement.
