EU ready for bilateral talks w/Russia over trade deal
Nov 24, 2013 22:06:16 GMT -5
Post by schwartzie on Nov 24, 2013 22:06:16 GMT -5
EU ready for bilateral talks with Russia over Ukrainian trade deal - official
Published time: November 24, 2013 18:28
Edited time: November 24, 2013 19:21
Tags
EU, Economy, Politics, Russia, Russia and the global economy, Trade, Ukraine
The European Union is ready to discuss issues that are of concern to “Ukraine’s neighbors” in the format of bilateral talks, a spokesman for Stefan Fule, EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, has said.
Speaking to the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1, Fule’s spokesman, Peter Stano, said the EU was willing to discuss the complications surrounding Kiev’s suspended decision to join the European trade zone.
“If Ukraine’s neighbors have some questions, we are ready to settle them on a bilateral basis,” the EU official said.
Stano then stressed that Kiev’s actual signing of the EU-Ukrainian agreement was an issue to be discussed only between the two sides of the deal.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s proposal for holding trilateral talks with Russia and the EU on the controversial deal was thwarted by Lithuania currently presiding at the European Council. The country's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said that “we do not see a role for any third country in this process.”
Fule on Saturday claimed that the EU has given a “clear signal” to Ukraine that there will be some financial aid for the Ukrainian economy, should Kiev sign the agreement and enter the EU trade zone.
However, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov on Sunday reiterated that, despite repeated requests for help to the EU, only a “word-of-mouth promise” of just 1 billion euro aid has come from the European block. As for Ukraine, it is going to suffer 165 billion euro losses ($223.6 billion) in the next decade in the course of adapting local regulation to European standards, Azarov added.
At the same time, Azarov did not rule out that Kiev could still sign the deal next year at the Ukraine-EU summit, as the EU Commissioner also indicated earlier.
“The association agreement could be signed at the Ukraine-European Union Summit at the end of winter, beginning of spring… Ukrainians have asked us [for] a pause and we respect this decision,” Fule said in Brussels on Saturday, adding “the doors remain open,” but the EU does not want this pause to last longer than until spring 2014.
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Published time: November 24, 2013 18:28
Edited time: November 24, 2013 19:21
Tags
EU, Economy, Politics, Russia, Russia and the global economy, Trade, Ukraine
The European Union is ready to discuss issues that are of concern to “Ukraine’s neighbors” in the format of bilateral talks, a spokesman for Stefan Fule, EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, has said.
Speaking to the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1, Fule’s spokesman, Peter Stano, said the EU was willing to discuss the complications surrounding Kiev’s suspended decision to join the European trade zone.
“If Ukraine’s neighbors have some questions, we are ready to settle them on a bilateral basis,” the EU official said.
Stano then stressed that Kiev’s actual signing of the EU-Ukrainian agreement was an issue to be discussed only between the two sides of the deal.
Earlier this week, Ukraine’s proposal for holding trilateral talks with Russia and the EU on the controversial deal was thwarted by Lithuania currently presiding at the European Council. The country's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said that “we do not see a role for any third country in this process.”
Fule on Saturday claimed that the EU has given a “clear signal” to Ukraine that there will be some financial aid for the Ukrainian economy, should Kiev sign the agreement and enter the EU trade zone.
However, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov on Sunday reiterated that, despite repeated requests for help to the EU, only a “word-of-mouth promise” of just 1 billion euro aid has come from the European block. As for Ukraine, it is going to suffer 165 billion euro losses ($223.6 billion) in the next decade in the course of adapting local regulation to European standards, Azarov added.
At the same time, Azarov did not rule out that Kiev could still sign the deal next year at the Ukraine-EU summit, as the EU Commissioner also indicated earlier.
“The association agreement could be signed at the Ukraine-European Union Summit at the end of winter, beginning of spring… Ukrainians have asked us [for] a pause and we respect this decision,” Fule said in Brussels on Saturday, adding “the doors remain open,” but the EU does not want this pause to last longer than until spring 2014.
link
