Vilnius – The head of the Batkivschyna parliamentary faction, Arseniy Yatseniuk, has said that the European Union will not sign any joint statements of intention to sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine.
“I know about the discussion over signing a joint declaration of intention, but our European partners don’t support the idea of signing a joint statement,” Yatseniuk said in Vilnius on Thursday, while commenting on recent reports of an initiative to sign a document that could allow Ukraine and the EU to save face.
“You can’t replace the refusal to sign the Association Agreement, which actually [entailed Ukraine] jilting the entire Western world, with some joint statements,” he said.
He also said that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych never planned to sign the Association Agreement with the EU.
“I think it was bluff from the very beginning, when Yanukovych started to talk about European integration. He and European integration are incompatible things,” Yatseniuk said.
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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
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