Ukraine's place in the European Community

Ukraine's place in the European Community

European integration is the process of political, legal, economic (and in some cases social and cultural) integration of European states, including those partially located in Europe. Currently, European integration is achieved mainly through the enlargement of the European Union and the Council of Europe.

The European Union is a union of member states of the European Communities (EMU, EMF, Euratom), established under the Treaty on European Union, signed in February 1992 and in force since November 1993. Today, the association includes 28 European countries with a population of over 507 million people. The EU introduces a single currency, the euro. The de facto capital of the European Union is Brussels. The European Union is a full member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and has representation in the G7 and G20. The European Union is considered a potential superpower in the future.

The goal of the EU is to create an economic union with the highest level of integration of the economies of the states (common foreign economic policy, common market for services, goods, capital and labor, and a common currency) and political (common foreign policy) union, as well as the introduction of a common citizenship.

Slide number 8 The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, the content of which is developed specifically for Ukraine and which is being prepared to replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. The Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU allows us to move from partnership and cooperation to political association and economic integration. In October 2005, European Commission President Barroso stated that Ukraine's future lies in the EU. In 2005, President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko declared that EU membership was a strategic goal of Ukraine's foreign policy. All factions in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 5th convocation of 2006-2007 (except for the Communists - 5% of seats) support the fastest possible accession to the EU, including the transition to closer forms of integration. Some European politicians and political analysts consider 2020 to be a likely year for Ukraine's accession to the EU. On July 12, 2007, the European Parliament in Strasbourg decided to express support for granting Ukraine the prospect of EU membership. The decision was made following a discussion of a report by MEP Michał Tomasz Kaminski on a mandate to negotiate a new deep and comprehensive agreement with Ukraine.

The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is an agreement between the European Union and Ukraine, the content of which is developed specifically for Ukraine and which is being prepared to replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement allows for a transition from partnership and cooperation to political association and economic integration.

An important element of the Agreement is the provision on the establishment of a deep and comprehensive free trade area. Ukraine considers the Association Agreement as an important step towards the next stage of its integration with the EU - preparation for accession. The Agreement is of great economic, social and civilizational importance for Ukraine, and opens up prospects for Ukraine to become an integral part of the European political, economic and cultural space.

In November 2013, the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was expected to be signed at the Vilnius summit. However, on November 9, a secret meeting between Presidents Yanukovych and Putin took place in Russia, the content of which remains unknown. After that, the Ukrainian government abruptly changed its rhetoric and on November 21, 2013, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to suspend the process of preparing for the signing of the agreement with the EU. As a result, mass protests broke out across Ukraine.

The decision of the Ukrainian government to suspend the process of preparing for the conclusion of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement has caused a wave of protests in Ukraine itself. As of November 22, 2013, Euromaidans began to spontaneously appear in many Ukrainian cities, where Ukrainian citizens gather to protest the government's refusal to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

Euromaidan is a national and patriotic protest in Ukraine, primarily against corruption, social inequality, arbitrariness of law enforcement and special forces, and in support of the European vector of Ukraine's foreign policy.

The protests began on November 21, 2013, in response to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to suspend the process of preparing for the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union and spread significantly after the demonstration in Kyiv was violently dispersed on the night of November 30. Protests in late 2013 included rallies, demonstrations, and student strikes. The events of the night of November 30 - the bloody dispersal of the student Maidan - outraged the public. Opposition leaders announced a plan for further action, and activists applied to hold rallies in the center of Kyiv. The Kyiv City State Administration filed a lawsuit with the Kyiv District Administrative Court to ban protests on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, which was granted.

“The Million Man March, December 8

Adoption of repressive laws against civil rights. On January 16, 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted 10 laws in violation of the established voting procedure aimed at narrowing the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens, namely:restriction of freedom of peaceful assembly guaranteed by Article 39 of the Constitution (unjustified increase of liability and introduction of additional restrictions);restriction of freedom of speech in the media and on the Internet, thus creating conditions for censorship in the media and on the Internet;registration of organizations as “foreign agents”,

On January 22, 2014, according to official data, 3 young men were killed during the confrontations on Hrushevskogo Street: Yuriy Verbytskiy, Sergey Nigoyan, Armenian by origin, Mikhail Zhiznevskiy, Belarusian Zhiznevskiy Mikhail. Sergey Nigoyan. Yuriy Verbytsky. The first victims of the Yanukovych regime

On February 20, by order of the authorities, a mass shooting of civilians on the Maidan began. Snipers were shooting at the head and heart of unarmed people... Ukraine is in mourning, about a hundred people were killed.....’

The signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU took place in two stages.21 On March 21, 2014, during an extraordinary EU-Ukraine summit, the political part of the Agreement and the Final Act of the summit were signed.27 On June 2014, during a meeting of the EU Council, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the leadership of the European Union and the heads of state and government of 28 EU member states signed the economic part of the Agreement - Titles III “Justice, Freedom and Security”, IV “Trade and Trade-related Matters”, V “Economic and Sectoral Cooperation” and VI “Financial Cooperation and Anti-Fraud Provisions”.

On April 06, 2017, the European Parliament adopted a decision on visa-free regime for Ukraine with a large margin of victory 521 MEPs voted in favor of including Ukraine in the list of countries whose citizens are exempt from visa requirements. 75 deputies (including right-wing radicals and neo-fascists) voted against, while 36 abstained.

“We will be in the family of European nations”: The Council of the EU has finally ratified the Association Agreement with Ukraine. The decision was made on June 11, 2017, during the meeting of the EU Council on Economic and Financial Affairs. The document is expected to enter into force on September 1 of the same year. “The Association Agreement was one of the key demands and expectations of Euromaidan. And I am glad that we managed to achieve it together by joint efforts. And the Kremlin, which mobilized all its resources against the Association Agreement, cynically violated international law, launched aggression against Ukraine, has suffered another defeat,” P. Poroshenko emphasized, adding ‘Ukraine will definitely be in the family of European nations - both in the EU and NATO.’