EU determines amount of AA provisional application

The EU member states have determined the amount of the provisional application of the Association Agreement with Ukraine immediately after the signing of the document without its ratification.

The decision was taken at the meeting of The Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER), held on Monday, Sept. 23, in Brussels, foreign minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius said.

"The importance of this decision lies in the fact that it will be possible immediately after the signing to enter into force the so-called provisional application of the Association Agreement clauses - about 90 percent of the Agreement including the deep and comprehensive free trade area and more than 50 percent of the political parts. Although this solution is technical, it is very important in light of the irreversibility of the process," Linkevičius explained the essence of the decision.

The minister stressed that the decision "although technical in nature, but has a very important political significance."  

At the same time, the foreign minister of Lithuania stated that this decision does not anticipate the decision on the possible signing of the agreement.

"Another decision should be taken on the signing, but it is still not," he recalled.

In addition, as Linkevičius noted, the decision taken on Monday is "very important not only for Ukraine but also for other countries."

"When other countries, Moldova and Georgia, we hope, will sign the agreement, it will set a precedent - the same procedure will be applied for them later," the minister said.