
Comment of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine regarding the approval by the European Parliament Resolution of 21 January 2016 on the Association Agreements/Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova
The key
messages of the approved Resolution are condemnation of the Russian actions
aimed at blocking of the European aspirations of the partner-countries as well
as a clear appeal to Russia to put an end to the occupation of the Crimea and
further provocation of the conflicts in the territories of these countries.
An
extremely important message is the European Parliament support of the EU
Council Decision to extend economic sanctions against Russia in view of its
non-fulfillment of the Minsk agreements until 31 July 2016 and a call on
Russian authorities to release immediately all illegally detained Ukrainians,
in particular Nadiya Savchenko
and Oleh Sentsov. Ukraine
also expresses its gratitude for support of its initiative to deploy the EU-led
CSDP mission to assist the Minsk agreements implementation.
The EP has
supported the positive recommendations of the European Commission concerning
the visa liberalization with Ukraine. The EP expects the EU Council and
member-states to approve a relevant decision without any delay.
The
Ukrainian side expresses a particular gratitude for a clear message of the
European Parliament (the institution that represents a direct voice of the EU
citizens) that any European state in accordance to the Article 49 of the EU
Treaty can claim to membership in the European Union.
Despite
difficult security challenges, Ukraine remains committed to implementing the
Association Agreement and the Association Agenda.
In this
regard, Ukraine relies on continuation of the EU active support of the European
transformation process in our country.