Ukraine could sign common aviation area agreement with EU early March

Shmyhal said this in an interview with Ukrinform, answering a question about Borrell’s confirmation of EU’s interest in concluding a common aviation area agreement with Ukraine and rejection to comment on Spain's "veto" and the fact that agreement could become hostage to the political controversy between Spain and the UK over Gibraltar.

“Mr. Borrell is a High Representative of the European Union, not the Foreign Minister of Spain, although he is of Spanish descent. But this does not mean that we can hold him responsible for a certain delay in signing the agreement.”

According to the PM, “the Ukrainian side has fulfilled all the necessary requirements and parameters, all European countries have agreed on it. During a face-to-face meeting, Mr. Borrell confirmed that there were no complaints against Ukraine. That is, the problem arose among the European Union members, in particular, there are reservations from Spain. We cannot comment on whether they are related to the dispute with Britain or something else. But at all the high-level meetings, including with Mr. Charles Michel, we raised the issue of signing the common aviation area agreement as soon as possible and saw a willingness to do so at the earliest moment. And we hope that this will happen during Charles Michel's working visit to Ukraine on March 2-3,” Shmyhal said.

On February 3, the President's Office stated that signing of the common aviation area agreement between Ukraine and the European Union was postponed due to bureaucratic reasons. The President's Office expressed the opinion that now "it is necessary to look for an opportunity" to sign the agreement in March.

Following the results of the 22nd EU-Ukraine Summit in October last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the agreement could be signed in 2021.

ol