Public figures and experts in Ukraine have asked the leadership of the European Union to sign the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU in 2013.
A respective letter was read out at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday by Director of the Institute of World Policy Olena Hetmanchuk, Scientific Director at the Institute of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation Oleksandr Sushko, and Deputy Director of the Razumkov Center Valerіy Chaly.
“We’re calling on the European Union and its member states to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people, show support and demonstrate visionary thinking, giving Ukraine the prospect of a European future. We’re calling on the EU and its member states to sign the association agreement in 2013, thus creating additional levers to ensure the irreversibility of Ukraine’s European choice,” reads the statement.
“The signing of the association agreement is not a gift for [Ukrainian President] Viktor Yanukovych,” Hetmanchuk said.
She said that “Ukrainian society and Ukrainian citizens will benefit much more from the agreement than the government and the president.” At the same time, if the association agreement is not signed, then, in her opinion, this will be seen as a “go-ahead from the European Union for the Belarusization of Ukraine.”
“If the agreement is not signed in 2013, it won’t be signed at all,” Sushko said.
In his opinion, if the association agreement is signed after all, it will most likely become a “burden on the Ukrainian authorities, a lever that will strengthen authoritarianism.” Sushko said that by signing the agreement, Ukraine will assume commitments that the European Union would oversee, and that Ukraine would have to fulfill them.
“The association agreement should be officially signed in 2013, and then there should be the process of ratification, which will last many years,” he said.
