You're reading: Fuele sees Ukraine’s claims of costs of switching to DCFTA as disproportionate

Vilnius - The 160 billion euro that Ukraine claims it would require as costs for introducing a free trade area with the European Union is disproportionate and implausible, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fuele said.

This figure, spread over the following ten years, makes about 10% of Ukraine’s GDP, which is inconsistent with the record of the countries that have already concluded Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTA) with the EU, Fuele said at a business forum in Vilnius on Thursday.

Ukrainian business people should concentrate more on the advantages they would gain from free trade with the European Union, Fuele said. He criticized them for talking about costs rather than investment, modernization and improvement of the Ukrainian people’s wellbeing.

Fuele said the only costs he can see are the costs of inaction and stimulation of economic stagnation.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said earlier that, to switch to European standards, Ukraine would require at least 20 billion euro a year, or about 160 billion euro in the period up to 2017.

__________________________________________________________________

Editor’s Note: Join top government officials, leading industry CEOs, business owners and other experts to discuss Ukraine’s future after the Vilnius Summit at this year’s Kyiv Post Tiger Conference, which will be held on Dec 3 in Premier Palace Hotel. The guests and speakers will assess the effects on Ukrainian political and economic life of not signing an association agreement with the European Union at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Nov. 28-29.  Register now

__________________________________________________________________