Brussels has again said that it is impossible to split the Association Agreement, which includes a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), into political and economic parts.
“It is impossible to split the Association Agreement, including the
DCFTA, in two parts. It is one treaty and it was negotiated and agreed
by both sides as one document,” Peter Stano, spokesman for EU
Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan
Fule, told Interfax-Ukraine in Brussels on Jan.16, while commenting on
a respective statement made by Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Rybak.
Stano also said that the European Commission had not received any
official request (from the Ukrainian side) to consider such an
“unrealistic option.”
When asked to comment on a possible change of the EU’s approach
towards Ukraine in connection with the recent events, he noted that
Brussels hopes “for a speedy resolution of the current domestic
situation in Ukraine through a national dialogue and that we will be
able to sign the Association Agreement soon since this is our offer to
Ukraine that would bring numerous benefits to the country and its
people.”
As reported, during negotiations on the Association Agreement the
Ukrainian side raised the issue of possibly splitting the document,
however, the EU’s position was unchanged – the agreement is an
indivisible document.
