The expert said that the drafting of the association agreement would be the dominant trend in relations between Ukraine and the EU this year. "And the political sections of this agreement, except for a few clauses, have already been agreed last year. There remains the question of a free trade area," he said, UKRINFORM reported.
However, in his opinion, taking into account the fact that Ukraine acceded to the World Trade Organization not under the best conditions for its national economy, it cannot also make unilateral concessions to the EU. "This will mean a further complication of the economic situation in the country," the expert said.
He said that "from the point of view of the current approach by the Foreign Ministry and Ukraine's Mission to the EU, Ukraine's position is to not to make concessions that could significantly worsen trade relations between Ukraine and the EU."
Tolstov said that two rounds of talks were scheduled for the near future. "Two more rounds of talks are to be held before May, in which the Ukrainian side will try to do as much as possible in order to defend its positions."
The previous talks held in December disappointed the Ukrainian government, as the EU does not want to make concessions to increase the quota for products, which Ukraine wants to export, the expert added.
