Ukraine–European Union relations
between the European Union and Ukraine are shaped through the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. Ukraine is a priority partner within the Eastern Partnership and the European Neighbourhood Policy. The EU and Ukraine developed an increasingly close relationship, going beyond co-operation, to gradual economic integration and deepening of political co-operation. On 23 June 2022, the European Council granted Ukraine the status of a candidate for accession to the European Union.
The association agreement was initiated in 2012, but the Ukrainian government suspended preparations for signing the association agreement on 21 November 2013, during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych, who attended the EU summit in Vilnius on 28–29 November 2013, where the association agreement was originally planned to be signed. The decision to put off signing the association agreement led to the pro-EU Euromaidan movement. These led to the removal of Yanukovych and his government by parliament after the 2013–2014 Ukrainian revolution in February 2014.
The political part of the Association Agreement was signed on 21 March 2014, by Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Meanwhile, the EU froze assets of Russians and Ukrainians suspected of corruption and granted financial aid to Ukraine. The economic part of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement was signed on 27 June 2014, by the new president, Petro Poroshenko. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine joined the DCFTA with the EU. Ukrainian citizens were granted visa-free travel to the Schengen Area for up to 90 days during any 180-day period on 11 June 2017, and the Association Agreement formally came into effect on 1 September 2017. On 21 February 2019, the Constitution of Ukraine was amended, the norms on the strategic course of Ukraine for membership in the European Union and NATO were enshrined in the preamble of the Basic Law, three articles and transitional provisions. On 28 February 2022, during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially signed an EU membership application for Ukraine. Prime Ministers Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland, Janez Janša of Slovenia and Petr Fiala of the Czech Republic, all being member states of the European Union, visited Kyiv and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to express their solidarity and support during the invasion.
Ukraine shares borders with four EU member states; Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania—that stretch about in total, with 33 border crossings by road, rail, ferry, and walking and bicycle path.
On 14 December 2023, the European Council agreed to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. Accession negotiations began on 25 June 2024, at the same time as those with Moldova.
History
Early relations
Ukraine's desire to join the European Union dates back to 1993 when the government declared that integration to the EU was the main foreign policy objective. The Delegation of the European Commission to Ukraine was opened in Kyiv in September 1993. In reality, little was done since Kyiv had to take into account that Russia was its major trade partner and natural gas and fossil energy supplier.The political dialogue between the EU and Ukraine started in 1994 when the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement was signed. That document was focused on economic and social issues and the necessity of conducting public administration reforms and guaranteeing free press and civil rights. The framework set for political discussions was a yearly meeting between EU Troika and Ukrainian leadership and some inter-ministerial consultations. The first EU–Ukraine summit took place in September 1997 in Kyiv. The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement of 1994 entered into force in 1998 and expired in 2008. During the second summit in October 1998 in Vienna, EU–Ukraine relations were defined as a strategic and unique partnershipand Ukraine first declared its desire to acquire associate membership in the EU. None of the top-level meetings brought major changes to a reserved EU approach. Leaders focused chiefly on post-communism economic transition and human rights records as well as on issues connected to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and its containment.
In 2002, EU Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen said that membership within 10 to 20 years was a possibility. The same year Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma stated that Ukraine would meet all EU membership requirements by 2007–2011.
Post-Orange Revolution relations
The Orange Revolution of late 2004 improved Ukraine's European prospects; the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko hinted that he would press the EU for deeper ties and described a four-point plan: acknowledgment of Ukraine as a market economy, entry in the World Trade Organization, associate membership in the European Union, and, finally, full membership. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko asked Brussels mid-December 2004 for a clearer indication of Ukraine's prospects for membership, saying that, "The approved Action Plan reflects only the level of Ukraine–EU relations that we could have reached before the presidential elections in 2004."On 13 January 2005, the European Parliament almost unanimously passed a motion stating the wish of the European Parliament to establish closer ties with Ukraine in view of the possibility of EU membership. The European Commission stated that future EU membership would not be ruled out. Several EU leaders stated strong support for closer economic ties with Ukraine.
On 21 March 2005, Polish Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld noted that Poland will, in every way, promote Ukraine's desire to be integrated with the EU, achieve the status of a market-economy country, and join the World Trade Organization. He also said, "At the present moment, we should talk concrete steps in cooperation instead of engaging in empty talk about European integration." Three days later, a poll of the six largest EU nations conducted by a French research company showed that the European public would be more likely to accept Ukraine as a future EU member than any other country that is not currently an official candidate.
In October 2005, Commission president José Manuel Barroso said that the future of Ukraine is in the EU. On 9 November 2005, however, the European Commission in a new strategy paper suggested that the current enlargement agenda could block the possibility of a future accession of Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, and Moldova. Commissioner Olli Rehn said that the EU should avoid overexpansion, adding that the current enlargement agenda is already quite full.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, the ENP is not an adequate political instrument, since joining the EU was one of principal objectives of all governments since 1993. After the Orange Revolution of 2004 that brought to power Viktor Yushchenko, the EU commission was very slow to react: little progress was made to put the largest European country on a path to eventual membership.
Association negotiations
In March 2007, the EU and Ukraine started talks about a new "wider agreement", aiming at offering a legal framework for a closer economic cooperation and a better political dialogue. It was agreed that Ukraine and the EU would start a parallel negotiation concerning setting up a free trade area. Later in 2007, it was announced that this issue would be incorporated into the draft agreement as a separate chapter.Days before the summit, the Ministers of foreign affairs of Member States agreed during their meeting in Avignon that association agreement to be signed with Ukraine will have nothing to do with the association agreements the EU signed with many Eastern European States. Media reported that the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany were strongly opposed to including "Ukraine is a European State" into EU legally binding documents. This was considered a failure of Kuchma-era politician Mr. Roman Shpek, then Ukrainian ambassador to Brussels. He was replaced by Mr. Andriy Veselovsky, a more experienced diplomat.
A Joint EU–Ukraine Action Plan was endorsed by the European Council on 21 February 2005. It was based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement of 1994 and provided, according to the European Commission, a comprehensive and ambitious framework for joint of work with Ukraine in all key areas of reform.
Talks on a free trade agreement between Ukraine and the European Union started on 18 February 2008 between the Ukrainian government and the EU Trade Commissioner.
Portugal publicly stated it supports Ukraine's EU accession in July 2008.
On 22 July 2008, it was announced that a "Stabilisation and Association"-type agreement would be signed between Ukraine and the EU on 8 September 2008 in Évian-les-Bains.
Second Tymoshenko government
On 2 October 2008, Ukraine President Yushchenko announced that the Association agreement between the country and the EU would be signed "within six-eight months". On that day, he met with the King of Sweden Charles XVI Gustav, who paid a state visit to Kyiv. According to Yushchenko, "the agreement is half-ready, and he hopes that there will be a possibility to finalise and sign it under Swedish presidency in the EU." He also welcomed the initiative of Eastern Partnership suggested earlier by Polish and Swedish Foreign Ministers.File:Msc 2009-Saturday, 08.30 - 11.00 Uhr-Moerk 013 Merkel Tymoshenko.jpg|thumb|left|320px|Angela Merkel in Conversation with Yulia Tymoshenko during the 45th Munich Security Conference
On 20–24 October 2008, the EU and Ukraine held a negotiation round on the free trade area chapter of the Association agreement. According to some Ukrainian media, the "EU promised to liberalise trade relations". Ukraine's representative told that one must not "focus too much" on negotiation since there is much to be done by the Ukrainian government to meet certain criteria. He also said, that "soon, the Balkans will enter into the European trade space and therefore Ukraine might lose these markets". This was seen as a reason for Ukraine to move forward as least as soon as Balkans, the EU did not comment on that perception.
On 29 October 2008, the EU Commissioner Jacques Barrot and Ukrainian officials met in Brussels to launch negotiations on visa-free travel. Kyiv had been asking for a "road map" to visa lifting, including travel document security, irregular migration, public order and foreign relations. But the EU justice commissioner avoided to give any specific dates. Moreover, the Ukrainian side argued that the 2007 visa facilitation agreement is not fully implemented by the EU member states. The European Commission representative was quoted as saying that Brussels is ready to impose sanctions against those who do not respect the agreement. Spanish, Dutch, German and Belgian embassies were cited among the most active rule breakers. Making visa processing lengthy and expensive is one of the major agreement violations. On 28 October 2008, Belgian PM Yves Leterme told that Ukrainians need to avoid middlemen in visa procedures if they want to reduce their cost. The problem is that some consulates, including Belgian, oblige visa seekers to deal with a middleman.
According to Ukrainian President Yushchenko, some embassies of EU countries often require Ukrainians to present documents, which had not been foreseen in the agreement on simplification of visa regulations. Around five per cent of Ukrainians willing to travel to the EU are denied visas, which, according to Yushchenko, "does not meet the standards of our agreements with the EU."
On 4 June 2009, some media outlets reported that Germany's Free Democratic Party openly stated in its programme that Ukraine has the right for the EU membership in the long term. This was the first major German political party to state this.
On 16 June 2009, a new practical instrument was adopted—the EU-Ukraine Association Agenda.
In September 2009, high-ranking Ukrainian diplomats proposed that Ukraine apply for EU membership after the presidential election in January 2010, around March 2010, which would mean that the official response to the application would probably take place in early 2011 during the Polish presidency of the European Union. However, this has not happened.
On 5 October 2009, the Chairman of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on issues of European integration Borys Tarasiuk commented "the EU see the implementation of a free visa regime for Ukrainians travelling to member states of the European Union only as a long-term prospect". Ukrainian politicians continue to insist that the implementation of that free visa regime take place by 2012, when the European Football Championship will be held in Ukraine and Poland. According to Tarasiuk, the main obstacles to the implementation of a free visa regime between Ukraine and EU is the fact that Ukraine "hasn't finished its work on legislation concerning forming a demographic , which then could become a good basis for issuing biometric passports" and the fact that there is no general database on the issuing of foreign passports to Ukrainian citizens. According to Tarasiuk the EU fear that this grants the opportunity for mass falsification.
On 16 December 2009, the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stated that "our Ukrainian friends need to do more if they want us to help them more". He also stated that "enlargement is not possible in the current situation".