You're reading: Yatsenyuk says Ukraine-EU free trade area should come into effect on schedule

The provisions of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement concerning the creation of a free trade area (FTA) should become effective on Jan. 1, 2016, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

“I think that no one will have doubts after our talks that the agreement on a comprehensive and complete free trade area between Ukraine and the EU will become effective as of January 1, 2016,” he said at a plenary session of the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv on April 27.

“There won’t be any delay. What is more, neither Moscow nor anyone else has the right to either postpone or amend that agreement,” he said.

As reported, the EU General Affairs Council in September 2014 postponed until January 1, 2016, the implementation of the FTA provisions of the Association Agreement. This decision was the result of tripartite consultations between Ukraine, Russia and the EU.

European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn announced on April 16, 2015, that the EU is open to discussing potential concerns expressed by Russia in connection with Ukraine’s European integration, but excludes the possibility of reviewing the Association Agreement and the FTA between the EU and Ukraine.

Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Jan Tombinski subsequently said that the European Union was not considering any further postponement or review of the implementation of the free trade area agreement with Ukraine.

Ukraine is preparing for the implementation of part of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on the establishment of a free trade area with the EU starting from January 1, 2016, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine for European Integration Olena Zerkal said.

“We are preparing for the beginning of the implementation of the part [of the Association Agreement with the EU], which deals with the formation of a free trade area starting from January 1, 2016. At the same time, we are creating the necessary legal framework so that the part that concerns the free trade area will work from the very beginning,” she said.

As of today, the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU has been ratified by 15 out of 28 EU member states.