On Sept. 1, the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement (AA) finally entered into force. The moment passed rather quickly, not least because parts of the AA had already been provisionally implemented – the political part since November 2014 and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) since January 2016. This political fudge resulted from the Dutch referendum halting the ratification of the AA on the EU side as well as fruitless talks with Russia about the economic implications for the Russian market. The AA has been long in the making and its history has been more dramatic than any comparable EU agreement to date. Its official entry into force is therefore politically significant, even if the actual implementation and the resulting tangible benefits for Ukrainian citizens will take time.
Ukraine-European Union Relations
OP-ED
Gwendolyn Sasse: A reminder to continue Ukraine reforms
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko shows EU-Ukraine association agreement as he speaks during the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 13.
