“We should timely fulfill the EU conditions in order to sign the Association Agreement. We need political will for that. No tangible progress can be achieved if we are trying to run ahead in one of the carriages of a train that moves back,” he stressed.
According to him, the European Party has multiply stated that if the decision in regard to signing the Association Agreement was to be taken today the answer would be negative.
“There were no political prisoners and politically motivated persecution in Ukraine when we started negotiations on deepened and comprehensive free trade zone with the EU,” stressed Hryhoriy Nemyrya.
The Deputy Chairperson of the EU Mission to Ukraine Mariya Yurikova noted that “This year is important for the EU-Ukraine relations and a lot is at stake for Ukraine. The Association Agreement can be signed and this year can be the year of Ukraine, but the Ukrainian Party has to fulfill the EU Council criteria (of 10/12/12) for this”.
According to her, the main priorities that are to be fulfilled are the politically-motivated persecution and holding of a number of reforms in the sphere of justice, prosecutor’s office and electoral legislation, particularly, adoption of Electoral Code.
M.Yurikova advised the Ukrainian Party not to consider the possibility of partial fulfillment of criteria, but to mobilize and fulfill them in full.
“Then all the EU member states will take the decision for the good of Ukraine and the history of our relations will become the history of success,” she said.
Apart form that, experts drew attention to the fact that European integration has become a unifying factor for the representatives of different political forces. In this connection, they appreciated growing influence of the Committee on European Integration in this sphere.
The first comprehensive public monitoring report on fulfillment of conditions for signing the Association Agreement was presented during the meeting.
People’s deputies of Ukraine, representatives of executive authority and NGO experts participated in the event.