Expert of the NISS comments: the EU-Ukraine summit will take place on a fixed date, while the EU still believes in us

According to Ivan Us, chief consultant of the department of foreign economic policy at the National Institute for strategic studies, “The date for holding a summit in Ukraine was under challenge, but the fact that it does take place on a fixed date without any changes means, that the EU still believes in Ukraine. This is a good sign”.  The expert gave his opinion during Ukrainian radio broadcast on the program “Today in the Morning”. 

“The following summit is very important, as long as currently both Ukraine and the EU are in a state of transition”, – Ivan Us explains. “We had presidential elections, and at the moment we anticipate parliamentary elections, therefore we can talk about total reload of state authorities.  Recently in the EU elections took place as well, and for Tusk with Juncker, who are going to participate in the summit, these are the last weeks of holding their positions”.

According to Ivan Us’s statement, as early as at the end of May, during the meeting held by the first deputy prime-minister of Ukraine, many participants expressed their view, that the summit would probably be cancelled, or that it will take place with a delay: “Everyone was sure for 90%, that the date will be changed, and the summit will be postponed till autumn. Fortunately, however, during the visit of Volodymyr Zelensky to Brussels an agreement was reached, that the summit will be held without any changes”.

Expert pointed out: “Ukraine signed the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement, and the chief task of the summit is to remind about compliance with the Agreement”.

He paid attention to present concerns that the following summit is going to be a pure formality, yet these concerns are not fully justified, since a lot of issues of great concern for Ukraine are to be brought to discussion.  These issues are adaptation to the EU digital single market, Energy Package, Agreement on conformity of our products to European standards without additional technical checking from the European side, just to name a few.   

“For me the very fact, that the summit does take place, is a sign from the EU that they still believe in us”, – Ivan Us concluded.

On June 8, the 21st Ukraine-EU Summit began in Kyiv.  During the summit, as it was announced, political leaders will affirm strength of political and economic ties between the EU and Ukraine. The European side is represented by Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and by Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission. Ukraine is represented by Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine. According to information, provided by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, will also participate in the summit.      

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