Efficiency of EU-Ukraine political association reaches 90% — Dzheppar

"In the political association, we demonstrate a high level of efficiency ... It is political dialogue with the EU, convergence of foreign policy, security and defense cooperation, relations on a whole range of important issues, from energy to the economy. According to estimates of these processes, this is 90 percent of efficiency of the efforts made by the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzheppar said at the All-Ukrainian Forum “Ukraine 30. International Relations” on July 5, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

In 2021, within the framework of political association with the EU, Ukraine joined 220 political statements in the field of EU foreign policy, indicating that a bilateral political convergence between the EU and Ukraine exceeds 90 percent. Some other countries, which also have close relations with the European Union, has a much lower level of such convergence. For example, in Serbia [which is considered a potential candidate for EU membership], such convergence is up to 60 percent. Therefore, Ukraine has something to be proud of in the achieved results of political cooperation with the European Union, Dzheppar stressed.

"When we talk about the security dimension and defense, the key issue on the agenda is the challenges we face — cyber threats, information security. For the first time in the history of our dialogue, we held consultations within the framework of the Ukraine-EU cyber dialogue on June 3. We became the first Eastern Partnership country to have this format and the seventh country in the world to have such a cyber dialogue with the EU. This is a good indicator," said the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Among the key challenges Ukraine's foreign policy faces in relations with the European Union, she mentioned efforts to maintain a consistent policy of the EU and its member states to support Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty and to extend and preserve European sanctions against the aggressor country.

"It is no secret that a position has been articulated in Brussels for some time, claiming that it is necessary to reconsider sanctions against the Russian Federation and build a dialogue with it. Ukrainian diplomacy insisted that the five criteria, the basic principles on which the EU builds relations with Russia, in particular, the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, cannot be revised as long as the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation continues," Dzheppar said.

She noted that Ukraine had not only advocated maintaining and extending sanctions against Russia but also initiated their expansion within the framework of the EU global human rights sanctions regime. In particular, Ukraine suggested that the European side should impose sanctions on people who are responsible for human rights violations in the occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas.

ol