March 29, 2024

EU ready to discuss revisions to Ukraine trade deal – Barroso

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.(Reuters / Yves Herman)

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.(Reuters / Yves Herman)

The EU says it is ready to discuss changes to its trade pact with Ukraine if Kiev asks for revisions. The statement came after Vladimir Putin sent a letter to the presidents of the European Commission and Ukraine, calling for changes to the deal.

Brussels is ready to
discuss both the implementation of the Association Agreement and
its effects on Russia, José Manuel Barroso, President of the
European Commission,
told the Wall Street Journal in an
interview Thursday.

“If the Ukrainians, listening to Russian concerns, want to
discuss some matters with us, of course we are ready to
listen,”
he said.

READ MORE: 5 facts you need to know about the
Ukraine-EU trade deal

Barroso emphasized that a constructive cooperation was “in
the interests of everybody.”

He added: “We are open and we are constructive and are
pragmatic.”

Putin’s letter

Barroso statement was made after President Vladimir Putin sent a
letter to him and Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, in which
he urged his counterparts to revise the agreement.

Putin said a 15-month delay in bringing the agreement into force
would enable negotiating teams to make wholesale changes to the
deal.

READ MORE: EU-Ukraine integration pact postponed
till 2016 after talks between Moscow, Kiev Brussels

“We still believe that only systemic adjustments of the
Association Agreement, which take into account the full range of
risks to Russian-Ukrainian economic ties and to the whole Russian
economy, will allow [us to retain] existing trade and economic
cooperation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine,”
the
Financial Times cited Putin as saying in the
letter.

The letter was sent to the EU and Poroshenko on September 17, a
day after both Ukraine and the EU ratified the Association
Agreement.

READ MORE: Ukraine and EU ratify landmark
Association Agreement

On Friday, Yuri Ushakov, an aide to President Putin, confirmed to
RIA Novosti that Putin had sent the letter to the EU and
Poroshenko, without disclosing any details.

In turn, European Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen
confirmed Friday that Barroso had received Putin’s letter, adding
that he needed time to reply.


Article source: http://rt.com/business/190908-eu-association-agreement-putin/

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