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What’s the EU

2. Wider Europe – Neighbourhood

The EU Commission on March 11 adopted a new framework for its relations with the EU’s future neighbours including Ukraine. In a Communication called Wider Europe - Neighbourhood: A New Framework for Relations with our Eastern and Southern neighbours, the Commission made it clear that the objective of the new framework is to develop a zone of prosperity and a friendly neighbourhood, a ring of friends, with whom it can enjoy close peaceful and co-operative relations.

The overall goal of Wider Europe will be to work with partner countries to foster the political and economic reform process, promote closer economic integration and sustainable development and provide political support and assistance.

In Wider Europe Ukraine is one of the priority countries and is offered a new deal, including i.a. the prospect of closer integration into the EU’s Single Market, of preferential trade relations, of further cultural cooperation and mutual understanding, integration into transport, energy and telecommunications networks and the European, Research Area.

Also the new framework provides new concrete tools for its implementation including participation in EU programmes and activities and new sources of finance, an Action Plan for Ukraine and Annual Reviews.

In this regard Wider Europe offers an ambitious and realistic framework for strengthening our strategic partnership allowing Ukraine to benefit fully from EU Enlargement. The new avenues offered for cooperation offered by Wider Europe include a perspective of future progressive integration into the EU’s internal market of 450 million consumers

A new tool introduced to implement the New Framework is the Action Plan, a essentially political document to be drawn up by the Commission and EU member States and agreed in association with Ukraine, clearly setting out not only policy targets but also benchmarks by which progress can be judged over several years. These benchmarks should be developed in close cooperation with the partner countries and new benefits should be offered to reflect the progress made in political and economic reform.

The Wider Europe Communication also outlines the Neighbourhood Programmes as a new initiative to take significant steps to deal with the effects of Enlargement boost co-operation across the EU’s borders with Ukraine. Under four different NNPs Ukraine will receive an additional funding of 20 million Euros.

The issue of Ukraine’s membership in the EU is left open for the time being. But during the recent EU-Ukraine summit in Yalta the EU representatives have repeatedly said that the door is kept open for Ukraine. The EU just not ready at this moment to give any concrete date. However, the Treaty of the European Union Article 49 explicitly allows for the possibility of Ukraine becoming a member and the Wider Europe does not exclude it as well.

Sum

The European integration and membership in the European Union is by the strategic purpose of Ukraine because it is by the best way of realization of national interests, construction of the economically advanced and democratic state, strengthening of positions in world system of the international relations. For Ukraine the European integration is a way of modernization of economy, overcoming of technological backwardness, attraction of the foreign investments and newest technologies, creations of new workplaces, increase of a competitive opportunity domestic goods makers, output on the world markets, first of all on the market of EU. The basic political benefits of consecutive European integration are strengthenings stability of democratic political system and it’s institutes, modernization of a legal field and maintenance of a transparency of the national legislation, deepenings of culture of democracy and respect for the rights of the man and etc.

Literature.

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/ukraine/intro/index.htm

http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/

http://www.kmv.gov.ua/

http://www.delukr.cec.eu.int/

http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/human_rights/info%20/index.htm

http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/eidhr%20/index_en.htm

http://ue.eu.int/pressdata/en/cfsp/79473.pdf

http://www.europarl.eu.int/plenary/default_en.htm

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/press_room/index_en.htm

http://www.elections2004.eu.int/ep-election/sites/en/index.html

http://www.euobserver.com/

http://www.euobserver.com/

http://ue.eu.int/en/summ.htm

http://www.euobserver.com/

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/press_room/index_en.htm

http://www.delukr.cec.eu.int/site/www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/mundus/index_en.html

http://www.euobserver.com/

Addition 1

The following agreements are in force in relations between Ukraine and the EU:

1.Agreement between Ukraine and European Community on Trade in Textile Products (signed 5.05.93)

2. Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Comission of the European Communities on the Establishment and the Privileges and Immunities of the Delegation of the Comission of the European Communities in Ukraine (signed 9.12.93)

3. Agreement between the Comission of the European Communities and the Government of Ukraine setting up a Contact Group on Coal and Steel (signed 6.06.94)

4. Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the European Communities and their member states, and Ukraine (signed 14.06.94)