An “ambitious partnership”– this is how France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy has recently described the proposal Paris is planning to offer Ukraine in September. Kiev expects that under this catchy title there will be substance which will pave the way towards EU membership. If given a clear European perspective this year, Ukraine would be able to join the club by 2020, Ukrainian diplomats say. They believe that the circumstances to reach this goal are becoming more and more favourable. There is growing support among EU member states for Ukraine’s aim to draw closer to the club, Andri Veselovsky, Ukraine’s new ambassador to the European Union, said recently. He stressed that the “wind of change” is especially strong in France.

Paris, which has previously expressed caution about future expansion of the EU, now had a “new vision” of Ukraine’s place in Europe, Veselovsky said. “This vision of Ukraine’s place in Europe is new, it is a clear difference and a new step in the understanding of a common European home in French political circles,” he explained.

Kiev hopes that Paris’ new approach will materialise in the coming months. Ukrainian diplomats are eyeing a new enhanced agreement now being negotiated with the EU as having an associate-type format. According to the EU’s enlargement rules, any country looking to join the Union must acquire association status before being able to move up the ladder. For the moment, to its great disappointment, Ukraine is one of 16 members of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) that are outside the enlargement process. Kiev hopes that during the forthcoming EU-Ukraine summit, on 9 September, the EU will recognise its European aspirations and pave the way to association status.

The offer, which has been put on the table by France and is now being examined by member states, includes the word ‘association’. “We have no problem with the word ‘association’ appearing in the text,” a French diplomat said. “We want to be ambitious on Ukraine,” he added.

According to diplomats familiar with its content, the draft document falls short of offering Ukraine EU membership prospects, but contains three elements which satisfy Kiev. It proposes the enhanced agreement to be called an ‘association agreement’. It offers ‘association-type’ relations between the EU and Ukraine. Finally, it provides for the inclusion of Ukraine in a ‘decision-shaping mechanism’, which the EU is now using in its relations with Norway.

The final version of the text will be subject to unanimity in the Council. All member states, including Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, which oppose closer ties between Ukraine and the EU, will need to give their consent. French diplomats say that reaching a compromise might be difficult. They add immediately that “it is achievable” by the summit in September.

n

“We have no problem with the word ‘association’ appearing in the text,” a French diplomat said 

Background

Ukraine’s relations with the EU are currently governed by a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), in force since March 1998. Kiev considers this decade-old document outdated and politically insufficient. Negotiations to replace the PCA started in March 2007. Ukraine wants the new accord to provide a clear reference to eventual EU membership. Following the Orange Revolution of November 2004, Ukraine adopted a firm pro-EU stance. However, Kiev’s membership aspirations so far have been significantly neglected by the EU, which still resists giving Kiev any hint of a promise of future membership. Ukraine’s current efforts aim at sealing the new agreement, preferably an association-type accord, avoiding the vague political formulations that to date have characterised the EU’s statements on this country of 55 million inhabitants.