Arseniy Yatsenyuk: The course of Ukraine towards the European Union is intricate but irreversible

"Our course towards the European Union is not easy, but it is pursued by the entire Ukrainian nation. It is crucial for our country, and this way is irreversible, no matter what Russia and Putin are doing," said Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a final meeting of the current Government on Wednesday, November 26.

The Head of Government reminded that pursuant to the Constitution of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine divests itself of its powers before the newly elected Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, "Tomorrow is due the first meeting of the newly elected Ukrainian Parliament and today we are having the last meeting of the current Ukrainian Government”.

He reminded what country they had received when the current Government came in office, "The President fled, the Government fled, the reserves were plundered, the gas evaporated somewhere, the funds were distributed among the pockets, the army didn’t exist, [problems with – ed.] Russia. This was the country we received then. It is a great merit, first of all, of the Ukrainian people, who realized the complex situation and supported all those unpopular austerity measures that were taken by the current Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine".

According to him, over the last two decades none of the Cabinet of Ministers has found themselves in such adversity, "as no Government was a military Government”, "In fact, Ukraine is at war with a nuclear state, affected by the Russian military aggression, and this is the main threat and the main sign of what difficulties our country is facing”.

"The Russian military aggression entailed the situation when we temporary lost control over the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as well as certain parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. This challenge is for us to fight and it will remain for a new Government, the President, the Parliament and Ukrainian citizens."

Among the major improvements over the past nine months Arseniy Yatsenyuk named signing of the Agreement with the European Union, "We signed and ratified the Agreement on Political Association and Economic Integration with the European Union’s member countries. We started to execute it. Concerning an economic aspect, Ukraine was granted unilateral access to the European markets, so we can sell our goods in the EU".

The PM informed that due to this access to the EU market exports of Ukrainian products to the European member states had grown by 12%, "And this means plus USD 1.5 billion."

Another positive development, according to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, was transition to the second stage of a preparation process to simplify a visa regime between Ukraine and the EU, “In the framework of realization of our policy called to simplify visa regime – introduction of biometric passports. There have been allotted UAH 150 million for relevant terminals and approved patterns of biometric passports”.

He remembered that within the Government there had been established a European Integration Office, while each Ministry had appointed Deputy Ministers on European integration, also several joint meetings were summoned by members of the Government in synergy with the partners from the European Commission.

“The core plan is to prolong what was launched by the current Government, the basis that we have built. This basis must become a fundament for a large Ukrainian house. The work is difficult and complex, but it is a general task for the entire Ukraine and this task can be fulfilled only on condition that the President, the Government, the new parliamentary majority are supported by the people of Ukraine and each of them does their job together with Ukrainian citizens," said Arseniy Yatsenyuk.