Sixth anniversary of EU-Ukraine Association Agreement ratification marked today

On 16 September 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the European Parliament simultaneously ratified the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. This decision was supported by 355 members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and 535 MEPs.

The negotiations on a new underlying agreement between Ukraine and the EU to replace the partnership and cooperation agreement were launched in March 2007 (the title of the future agreement – the Association Agreement – was agreed on in 2008).

In November 2011, the final, 21st round of negotiations on the Association Agreement took place in Brussels, during which all provisions of the Agreement’s wording were finalized. The document was supposed to be signed at the Vilnius summit in November 2013 by then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. However, he succumbed to Russia’s pressure and refused to sign the agreement. That decision provoked mass protests and the overthrow of the Yanukovych regime in February 2014.

On 6 March 2014, the heated debate about the future of the agreement took place at the extraordinary EU summit in Brussels and a number of European states urged to separate the economic part out of the agreement in order not to spoil relations with Moscow. The political part of the agreement, which was mostly declarative in nature, was signed at an extraordinary summit in Brussels on 21 March 2014.

On 27 June 2014, during a meeting of the Council of the EU, then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the leadership of the European Union and the Heads of State and Government of the 28 EU member states signed the economic part of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

On 16 September 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the European Parliament simultaneously ratified the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Subsequently, the Ukrainian side handed over the instruments of ratification to the depositary and thus completed all domestic procedures.

Many provisions of the Association Agreement have been provisionally applied since 2014. The free trade area with the European Union has functioned since 1 January 2016, and the Agreement entered into full force and effect on 1 September 2017.

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