The Ratification Saga of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement: Some Lessons for the Practice of Mixed Agreements

2021 ◽  
pp. 95-105
Author(s):  
Peter Van Elsuwege
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (6) ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Zhang DONGYANG ◽  

The status and prospects of development of trade and economic relations between Ukraine and China are considered. It is proved that bilateral cooperation in the trade and economic sphere has made significant progress. In 2012–2017, China was the second largest trading partner of Ukraine after Russia. However, the problem of imbalance in imports and exports between Ukraine and China has not yet been resolved. In addition, the scale and number of projects in which Ukraine attracts Chinese investment is much less than investments from European countries and the United States. It is justified that trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and China is at a new historical stage. On the one hand, Ukraine signed the Association Agreement with the European Union, and on January 1, 2016, the rules of the free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU entered into force. This helps to accelerate the integration of Ukrainian economy into European one. On the other hand, the global economic downturn requires the introduction of innovations in the model of cooperation. The Chinese initiative “One belt is one way” is one of the variants of the innovation model of cooperation. Its significance is to unite the Asia-Pacific region with the EU in order to join the Eurasian Economic Union, create a new space and opportunities for development and achieve prosperity with the Eurasian countries. All this forms unprecedented opportunities for development of bilateral economic and trade relations. It seems that to fully open the potential of Ukrainian economy and expand bilateral trade and economic cooperation, it is necessary to take into account such proposals as the establishment of the Sino-Ukrainian industrial park, the promotion of cooperation in the field of electronic commerce, the formation of the Sino-Ukrainian free trade zone and enhanced interaction within multilateral mechanisms (for example, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the interaction of China and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the 16 + 1 format).


Oikos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (29) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Olga María Cerqueira Torres

RESUMENEn el presente artículo el análisis se ha centrado en determinar cuáles de las funciones del interregionalismo, sistematizadas en los trabajos de Jürgen Rüland, han sido desarrolladas en la relación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones, ya que ello ha permitido evidenciar si el estado del proceso de integración de la CAN ha condicionado la racionalidad política del comportamiento de la Unión Europea hacia la región andina (civil power o soft imperialism); esto posibilitará establecer la viabilidad de la firma del Acuerdo de Asociación Unión Europea-Comunidad Andina de Naciones.Palabras clave: Unión Europea, Comunidad Andina, interregionalismo, funciones, acuerdo de asociación. Interregionalism functions in the EU-ANDEAN community relationsABSTRACTIn the present article analysis has focused on which functions of interregionalism, systematized by Jürgen Rüland, have been developed in the European Union-Andean Community birregional relation, that allowed demonstrate if the state of the integration process in the Andean Community has conditioned the political rationality of the European Union towards the Andean region (civil power or soft imperialism); with all these elements will be possible to establish the viability of the Association Agreement signature between the European Union and the Andean Community.Keywords: European Union, Andean Community, interregionalism, functions, association agreement.


Author(s):  
V. I. Denysenko

The failure to sign the Association Agreement with the EU in autumn 2013 has been investigated. The role of the Russian factor, which became decisive in the foreign policy reversal of the Yanukovych regime, has been revealed. The importance of Viktor Yanukovych’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 27, 2013, in the dramatic change of Ukraine’s international vector has been emphasized. On the basis of diplomats’ memoirs, the assumption about intimidation of the Ukrainian President by the Russian side has been substantiated. The timeline of the preparation of the 2013 Vilnius Summit, the position of EU structures and the attempts of the fourth President of Ukraine to win time to trade with the Russians have been reproduced. The thesis about the Donetsk clan’s attempts to prepare public opinion for a 180 degree turn in late October - early November 2013 has been presented. For this purpose, demonstration meetings were organized with representatives of Ukrainian business and trade unions, who called for revision of plans for European integration on their own initiative. The main role in manipulating public opinion rested on the government of Mykola Azarov and the Verkhovna Rada, which had a majority coalition led by the Party of Regions. Instead, Viktor Yanukovych continued his European integration rhetoric and reiterated to Western partners his own willingness to sign the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. On November 21, the real position of the ruling elite was made available to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. According to it, the process of preparation for the signing of the Association Agreement was suspended, the proposal was made for the trilateral Ukraine-EU-Russia negotiations, and the ministries were tasked with developing measures to maintain economic ties with the CIS countries. The decision was rejected by European partners and led to Yanukovych’s attempts to find other ways to thwart the signing of the Agreement. It has been proved that this role was played by Yanukovych’s requirements for financial assistance from the EU amounting to about 160 billion euros, which aimed to prevent the signing of the Association Agreement. Key words: Viktor Yanukovych, association of Ukraine with the EU, эYulia Tymoshenko, European integration, Pat Cox, Alexander Kwasniewski, Vladimir Putin.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-53
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Ustymenko ◽  
Alevtyna Sanchenko

The article provides a general overview of the course of forming Ukraine’s legal and policy basis for cross-border cooperation in connection with economic development. Specific attention is given to its cross-border cooperation with the neighbouring Eastern European countries in the frameworks of bilateral treaties, the Madrid Outline Convention and the EUUkraine Association Agreement. Their cooperation within four Euroregions, supported by the EU European Neighbourhood Instrument, is observed. The complex of cross-border cooperation advantages, shortcomings of their realisation and the current prospects for cross-border cooperation advancement in the light of sustainable development are characterised.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 174
Author(s):  
Oleh Predmestnikov ◽  
Vitaliy Gumenyuk

The policy of Ukraine for the establishment and development of relations with the European Union began in 1993, was carried out all the years of Ukraine’s existence, and received intensive deepening with the beginning of the formation of an international treaty – the Association Agreement, which includes a list of legal, social, economic, and technical regulations, and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), in 2014 and its final signing in 2017. Political and economic objectives of the Agreement are of fundamental importance to the future of both Ukraine and the whole European region. The political goal is to implement European standards on the territory of Ukraine. This implies the introduction of fundamental European values, namely democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights and the standards of the European security system. The Agreement does not foresee membership in the European Union, however, does not exclude such an opportunity in the future. The economic goal is to help to modernize the Ukrainian economy by expanding trade volumes with the EU and other countries, as well as reforming economic regulation mechanisms in line with the best European practices. Subject to the improvement of the business climate, Ukraine will become attractive for foreign and domestic investment for further production for export to the EU and other markets of the world. Harmonization of standards and European regulations has become a much more important process than the fulfilment of strictly technical requirements and underlies the introduction of effective governance without corruption. In the process of harmonization of interaction, an adaptive institutional mechanism was formed (the highest level – annual Summits; the key coordinator is the Association Council, consisting of members of the Council of the European Union and members of the European Commission, and members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine; the level of operational coordination – the Association Parliamentary Committee, which includes members of the European Parliament, representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and the Civil Society Platform; in order to coordinate processes on the territory of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government has introduced a few supervisory committees and commissions). The harmonization of the economic aspect of the mechanism has been determined in solving issues of openness of markets for duty-free import from Ukraine in April 2014, obtaining a visa-free regime with the EU, abolishing export-import tariffs, implementing European technical standards for food safety, phytosanitary norms, competition policy, service provision, and public procurement policy. The issues of further deepening of relations include a review of the terms for the introduction of regulations and legislative provisions before their actual implementation, stabilization of financial and economic processes in the country, and further development of democratic values and social institutions.


Author(s):  
O. І. Shnyrkov ◽  
D. S. Pliushch

The article outlines the perspective benefits of deepening integration processes between Ukraine and the European Union. Groups of Ukrainian goods have been identified, which exports to the EU are increasing dynamically. EU countries have been identified in which exports from Ukraine have been growing rapidly in recent years. The relations and nature of Ukraine's trade with the EU countries have been analyzed. The conclusions on the development of trade potential after signing the Association Agreement with the EU have been formulated. The assessment of the Complementarity Index of Trade for Ukraine and the EU by 97 commodity groups according to the Ukrainian Classification of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity and the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System for 2011-2018 has been carried out. The dynamics of change of complementarity indices are analyzed and the predicted indices of the countries for 2019 and 2020 are calculated. It has been proven that mutual trade in a free trade area is mutually beneficial for Ukraine and the EU, as Ukraine and the EU benefit from increased trade, and establishing international partnerships between their businesses and organizations can be particularly beneficial in the long term perspective. It is proposed to deepen international industry cooperation in order to develop competitive advantages and strengthen its position both on the Ukrainian market and the European market.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (14) ◽  
pp. 125-144
Author(s):  
Ksenia Smyrnova

This paper follows a comparative approach to the analysis of collective dominance doctrine and practice in the EU and the enforcement practice in Ukraine. The aim of this paper is to assess the compliance of the Ukrainian competition authority’s (AMCU) analysis of the national electricity market with EU law enforcement practice. The latter arises from Ukraine’s wider duty to fulfil its international law obligation to comply with EU competition rules, based on Article 18 of the Treaty establishing the Energy Community also taking into account the interpretative criteria developed in EU case law (according to Article 94 of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU). Article 255 of the Association Agreement, which clearly provides for the use of the principle of transparency, non-discrimination and neutrality when complying with the procedures of fairness, justice and the right of defence, also illustrates the necessity of carrying out research in this field. The paper examines notions such as: the dominance doctrine, market power definition, economic strength and collective dominance in the EU enforcement practice. Special attention is placed on enforcement practice in the electricity market. Since the scrutinised market inquiry constitutes the first investigation into the Ukrainian electricity market, there is no national practice on this issue yet. For this reason, the analysis follows a wide comparative approach towards the principles of collective dominance in the electricity market in Ukraine. The paper concludes that the AMCU’s approach to the regulation of the electricity market in Ukraine confirms the necessity to reform the system of state regulation in the wholesale electricity market and in the market of services for electricity transmission. In order to develop competition in the electricity market, it is also necessary to change the system for tariff and pricing policy formation on the part of the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission of Ukraine and the Ministry of Energy and Coal-Mining Industry of Ukraine. Stressed is also the necessity to follow the approach and criteria of EU competition law with regard to the determination of market dominance. This requirement is stipulated by Ukraine’s international legal obligations arising from Articles 18 and 94 of the Treaty establishing the Energy Community and Article 255 of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-133
Author(s):  
Mariia Sirotkina ◽  
Olena Lomakina ◽  
Olena Shkarnega

The Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine is a new format of relations aimed at creating a deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA) between Ukraine and the EU with the gradual integration of Ukraine into the internal market of the European Union. Focusing on the experience of rule-making of the EU member states, it is necessary to define and implement the legal rules and principles of the national judiciary, taking into account the rules and principles of European law (Chornomaz, 2016). In accordance with the strategy of European integration of our country, the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation is to approximate it with the modern European legal system, which will ensure the development of the political, entrepreneurial, social, cultural activity of Ukrainian citizens, economic development of the state within the EU to facilitate the increase of standards of living of the population. The implementation of the provisions of European legislation provided by the economic part of the Association Agreement (AA) is extremely important in the context of reforms, as the provisions can and should serve as a basis for a new model of socio-economic development of Ukraine. The deepening of the processes of humanization and democratization of Ukrainian society, the gradual introduction of principles and rules of European law into the national judiciary through reforms in the field of justice, inter alia, have led to qualitative updating of criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine, in particular: use of differentiated approach to legal conflicts between persons who have committed criminal offences, which do not pose a great public danger, and victims; simplification and reduction of the procedure of criminal proceedings; ensuring procedural savings; reduction of the caseload; allowing the parties of the conflict to resolve issues of exemption from criminal liability in case of reconciliation between the offender and the victim independently, the appointment of the negotiated punishment and release from serving with probation, etc. Given the specifics of the approach to improving relations with neighbouring countries on a differentiated basis, the EU seeks to identify and base on existing positive sources of sustainability, as well as to monitor and respond to weaknesses with the appropriate set of methods and resources at its disposal. The purpose of the article is to study a theoretical and practical definition of challenges of adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to the legislation of the European Union, institutional and organizational mechanisms of DCFTA implementation in the field of justice and certain norms of the current criminal procedure legislation. Ukraine is undergoing the second phase of radical reform of government structures; it has been continuing for 15 years but, unlike other countries, it is much more difficult for Ukraine to get rid of the burden of past problems. Judicial reform is also underway and domestic legislation is being significantly changed, including the transformation of the judicial proceedings. The topical issue of the development of judicial reforms is an imperfection, and sometimes a contradiction of regulations, which negatively affects the process of realization of rights and responsibilities of all subjects of public relations, slows down the development of Ukraine as a state governed by the rule of law. However, the introduction of institutions of concluding agreements, simplified proceedings, probation, and later mediation, into the criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine indicates the readiness of our state to change the concept of criminal procedure in accordance with the European standards, which will improve the situation of all parties to criminal proceedings. However, they need further completion and improvement. We are convinced that the introduction of such institutions will contribute to the legal development of society to achieve the European standards of restorative justice, which will encourage the further introduction of the latter in the legislation of Ukraine, resolving criminal conflicts by reaching a compromise between parties in cases specified by law. One of the ways to solve this problem in Ukraine is to regulate the process of adoption of regulations by the subjects of rule-making and taking into account the provision that legality as an objective property of law, in general, is the necessary condition and the main principle of the rule-making process.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yevhen Ivanov ◽  

The article looks into key challenges for Ukrainian economy caused by foreign trade intensification with China in 2020 when Ukraine’s exports to PRC increased by 98 per cent. The dynamics and main structural shifts in the UA-CN trade are analyzed. The structure of bilateral trade flows between the parties by degree of processing and value added is explored. It is revealed that Ukraine’s exports to China consists predominantly from raw materials and products of primary processing: mineral products (iron ore), cereals (maize), sunflower oil and its residues, ferrous metals, etc. The imports from China to Ukraine consists mainly from electrical machinery, mechanical appliances, articles of apparel, chemical products, iron and steel, etc. Comparative analysis of the commodity structure of Ukraine’s exports to PRC and to the EU is conducted. The analysis shows that, despite dominance of traditional and low value added goods in Ukrainian overall exports, the share of sophisticated manufactured goods in exports to the EU is much larger than in exports to China. It is substantiated that trade with China largely determines the raw material orientation of Ukraine's international specialization, while exports to developed countries are characterized by a relatively higher share of intermediate and consumer goods. To increase the efficiency of Ukraine’s foreign trade, it is considered that the best option is to focus on reducing dependence on imports from China by developing domestic production of appropriate consumer goods and increasing export flows to developed countries. The expediency of Ukraine's refusal to participate in the New Silk Road project is argued in favor of using the benefits of nearshoring strategy, which opens the opportunity to replace Chinese consumer goods in the EU market with Ukrainian ones under the EU-UA association agreement. The article briefly surveys some cases of successful implementation of this strategy by Ukrainian business, in particular the launch of exports of household appliances (electro-thermic coffee and tea makers, electric razors, washing machines, electric heaters) to the EU.


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