Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira has said he believes that it is too early to talk about success on the road to signing the association agreement with Ukraine.
"It is too early to open a bottle of champagne, because events in Ukraine in the past two years have created difficulties for the transition to the next steps, in particular, to the signing, which requires a unanimous decision from all EU countries and the ratification by the parliaments of Ukraine, the EU countries and the European Parliament of this agreement," he said at a press conference at the Institute of World Policy in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Teixeira said that the powers of all branches of government were currently absolutely clear, but negative changes occurred in the domestic situation of the country. The diplomat said that the situation with compliance with core European values was worsening in Ukraine, which influences the further process of European integration.
In particular, he said that the EU was concerned about the situation with democracy, human rights, rule of law, the deteriorating business climate and the situation with corruption in Ukraine. In addition, he said the European side was concerned about the use of selective justice with respect to former government members.
"These cases are considered major obstacles to the process of Ukraine’s European integration. They are the main stumbling blocks in this process," Teixeira said.
