EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EU-UKRAINE PARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION COMMITTEE MINUTES of the TWELTH MEETING 24 - 25 February 2009 BRUSSELS CONTENTS 1. Adoption of draft agenda PE 412.693.....................................................................3 2. Adoption of the minutes of the 11th meeting of the EU-Ukraine PCC in Kyiv and Yalta on 2-3 October 2008.............. .......................................................................3 3. State of play of the EU-Ukraine relations, including the negotiations on the Association Agreement and talks on the Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement.........3 4. Political and economic situation in Ukraine and the EU, following the global financial crisis and in the view of respective political and institutional reforms....3 Joint Debate on points 3 and 4 with statements by - Government of Ukraine - Presidency-in-Office of the Council of the European Union - European Commission 5. Energy cooperation, especially regarding the security of energy supply...............6 6. Implementation of the EU-Ukraine visa facilitation and readmission agreement and perspectives of a visa-free regime and people-to-people contacts...................8 7. Cooperation in the common neighbourhood, including the launching of the Eastern Partnership and the setting up of an EU Neighbourhood East Parliamentary Assembly (EURO-NEST)................................................................9 8. Follow-up of the final statement and recommendations of the 11th EU-Ukraine PCC meeting..........................................................................................................10 9. Adoption of the final statement and recommendations.........................................10 10. Any other business.................................................................................................10 11. Date and place of the next meeting........................................................................11 Annex: List of participants ________________ PV\798204EN.doc 1 PE 428.999 The EU-Ukrainian Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC) 12th meeting opened on 24 February 2009 at 15.30 under the co-chairmanship of Mr. Adrian SEVERIN (European Parliament) and Mr. Borys TARASYUK, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament). Mr. SEVERIN opened the meeting and welcomed all the participants. He expressed his hope that the 12th EU-Ukraine PCC would be fruitful and good and would deepen the EU-Ukraine cooperation. The speaker noted that the meeting was taking place in turbulent times, in the midst of global crisis and in the aftermath of Ukraine-Russia gas dispute, which had raised deep concern in the EU and had forced the EU to rethink its overall energy policy. Mr. SEVERIN also spoke about the continuing political instability in Ukraine because of the power struggle between the President and the Prime Minister. He expressed his believes that Ukraine's closer integration with the EU would direct the country towards the development of a real democracy, of a functioning market economy and of a free society. The speaker also encouraged the Ukrainian delegation members to inform the Committee about the current economic and political unstable situation in Ukraine and to suggest how the EU could help in that regard. Mr. SEVERIN then briefly introduced the agenda of the meeting showing the common purpose of the both delegations. He also called on Ukraine to be more united and to show more European consistency at the same time. Mr. TARASYUK took the floor and welcomed all the members of the EU delegation and presented the members of the Verkhovna Rada delegation. He noted that it was the last PCC meeting before the European Parliament elections and wished success to the EP colleagues during the campaign. Mr. TARASYUK said that the beginning of political crisis in Ukraine was partly overcome with the help of global economic and financial crises because the parliamentary elections had been postponed and new trilateral coalition had emerged in the Ukrainian Parliament. The speaker noted that it had not been Ukraine that had initiated the recent gas crisis and that it had been Russia that cut off gas supply. He thanked the EU for being the facilitator in the resolution of the crisis. Mr. TARASYUK also mentioned the Association Agreement and expressed his believes that it would fully emerge by its contents as the result of current negotiations. The speaker also welcomed the initiative of Eastern Partnership and declared that Ukraine was ready to participate in the EU Neighbourhood East Parliamentary Assembly (EURO-NEST) as it had been expressed in the reply-letter of Mr Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, to the EP President Poettering. The speaker also mentioned the EU-Ukraine visa facilitation and readmission agreement and expressed his hopes that the Committee would prepare the draft statement and resolution in the same fruitful way as it had done before. Mr. SEVERIN took the floor. ________________ PV\798204EN.doc 2 PE 428.999 1. Adoption of draft agenda The draft agenda of the 12th PCC meeting was adopted. 2. Adoption of the minutes of the 11th meeting of the EU-Ukraine PCC in Kyiv and Yalta on 2-3 October 2008 Minutes of the 11th PCC meeting were adopted. Mr. SEVERIN also declared that for the draft joint statement of the 12th PCC meeting all text proposals and amendments should be presented during the PCC itself. Eventual amendments, if any, would have to be submitted to the Delegation Secretariat by 18h00, 24 February. Joint Debate: 3. State of play of the EU-Ukraine relations, including the negotiations on the Association Agreement and talks on the Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement 4. Political and economic situation in Ukraine and the EU, following the global financial crisis and in the view of respective political and institutional reforms Mr. SEVERIN then opened the floor for a joint debate. Ambassador Andriy VESELOVSKY, Head of the Ukrainian Mission to the EU, made a statement on behalf of the Government of Ukraine. He started by saying that although there were legislative controversies and institutional imperfections in Ukraine, the political and economic reforms were underway to address European standards. He noted that European integration was perceived as political platform by major political forces in Ukraine. Ambassador VESELOVSKY said that global economic crisis had its strong impact on Ukraine. The Government had undertaken relevant measures to support financial institutions and prevent their break-down. A comprehensive anti-crisis package had been created to stabilise the situation in finance and banking sector, to support industry and to increase the flow of investments. Ambassador VESELOVSKY then spoke on Ukraine-EU relations. He said that Ukraine was the only country in Eastern Europe that enjoyed a very close relationship with the EU. The speaker noted that the items on the agenda of the meeting were important for Ukraine and briefly informed the Committee on Ukraine's progress on the items. He also encouraged the EU to meet Ukrainian expectations. The speaker concluded by saying that he hoped that Ukraine would continue its deep and comprehensive dialogue with the EU. Mr. John KJAER, Head of Unit for relations with Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the South Caucasus, intervened on behalf of the European Commission. He started by talking about Ukraine-EU relations. He mentioned the EU-Ukraine summit in Paris in 2008 and the successful negotiations on energy, environment, justice and home affairs, human rights and democratisation and people to people contacts. He talked about progress at the EU-Ukraine visa-free regime, the Association Agreement, the Free Trade Area (FTA) Agreement and new Action Plan Agreement negotiations. ________________ PV\798204EN.doc 3 PE 428.999 Mr. KJAER also reminded that Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty was very important. He spoke as well on the assistance provided by the EU and its constant growth. Mr. KJAER then raised the issue of economic and political situation in Ukraine. He acknowledged that Ukrainian Government took leadership in much needed reforms and the speaker encouraged further reforms. He highlighted that recent gas dispute had been very damaging. He concluded by saying that Ukraine was a key strategic partner for the EU and key political and economic reforms in Ukraine would make it able to rise to the challenges the whole world was facing at the moment. Ambassador Milena VICENOVA, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU, intervened on behalf of the Presidency-in-Office of the Council of the European Union. She started by welcoming all the participants and by saying that Ukraine was the topical issue for the Council of the European Union. During Czech Presidency the priority would be given to deep Free Trade Agreement. The speaker also highlighted the importance of the Association Agreement and the Eastern Partnership negotiations. She expressed her hope that further progress would be reached in bringing Ukraine and other Eastern European countries closer to Europe. Mr. TARASYUK reminded the Committee that the EU had been very helpful in resolving the recent gas dispute. He noted that the Association Agreement, which would bring Ukraine closer to the EU membership; Free Trade Agreement and its quality; visa-free regime; in-depth regional cooperation and European common foreign and security policy were the most important areas of EU-Ukraine negotiations. Mr. SEVERIN posed a question both to