Yalta – Signing agreements on association and creating a deep and comprehensive free trade area with the European Union would strengthen Ukraine's European choice and become and additional incentive for reform in the country, Ukrainian opposition leaders have said.
"Only signing the association agreement can strengthen the European development of our country," Leader of the UDAR Party Vitaliy Klychko said during the 8th Yalta Annual Meeting "Ukraine and the World: Common Challenges, Common Future" on September 17.
"Ukraine has to obtain such a chance. It will be easier to influence Ukraine [with, rather than without the association agreement]," MP and Leader of the Civil Position Party Anatoliy Hrytsenko said.
He added that the concentration of power in the hands of [Ukrainian President] Viktor Yanukovych should not be a reason for the EU to refuse to sign the agreement. According to Hrytsenko, he would call for signing the association agreement even from prison.
"The agreement should be signed and ratified. It is a democratization tool… It will be a reform plan for the country," MP and Leader of the Front for Change Party Arseniy Yatseniuk added.
