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news site reported. In particular, the MPs proposed stressing the importance of Ukraine’s gradual integration with the E.U. domestic market, as well as learning the possibilities of sectoral integration, including an energy union, a transportation association and a single digital market. They also called for including Ukraine in E.U. efforts to combat climate change through membership in the European Green Deal. It signers included Jukneviciene, Radoslaw Sikorski and Anna Fotyga.
2.2​ ​EU leaders announce enhanced relations with Ukraine, avoid criticism
Partly out of concern about repelling Ukraine, E.U. leaders announced enhanced relations after their first meeting with President Zelensky during the Ukraine-E.U. summit on Oct. 6 in Berlin. Under the context of a renewed Association Agreement, the E.U. announced “the further strengthening of economic and regulatory integration” with Ukraine in its summary statement of the summit, as reported by the eurointegration.com.ua news site. The main tangents of integration, which have already begun, are the digital marketplace, environmental protection, the European Green Deal, and the financial sphere. The clause on “strengthening economic integration” was demanded by Ukrainian diplomats, who had been in conflict with their European counterparts until the last minute, the report said. Rather than amending the agreement, these integration measures were included as additions.
E.U. diplomats offered no criticism of Ukraine throughout the summit because they “don’t want to place the dialogue under threat,” the eurointegration.com.ua news site reported on Oct. 7, citing anonymous E.U. politicians and diplomats. Part of the reason was that it was Zelensky’s first meeting with E.U. leaders, which “is needed for establishing relations, not criticism,” the report said. At the same time, the President’s Office had demonstrated for several months that it nervously regards concerns raised from abroad. The officials “immediately shut down” and struck a defensive pose upon hearing criticism, the sources said. “This was apparent even visually,” one source said.
The European Commission signed with Ukraine at their Oct. 6 summit in Berlin three agreements amounting to EUR 60mn in financial aid. The Strong Regions program earmarks EUR 30mn to local governments in order to address problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Another EUR 20mn is earmarked for mechanisms of developing civil society in Ukraine. And EUR 10mn was granted to develop clean, safe and effective energy supply and usage, the eurointegration.com.ua news site reported.
Other successes cited by the report were reassurances of renewed visa-free travel once COVID infections decline, further steps towards an “industrial visa-free regime,” and guarantees of renewed sanctions against Russia. At the same time, EUR 1.2bn in planned macrofinancial assistance remains dependent on the Zelensky administration’s ability to preserve the independence of the IMF-sponsored National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
Zenon Zawada: Given that Ukrainian diplomats behaved in an assertive
7​ UKRAINE Country Report​ November 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com