23rd Ukraine-EU summit was one of most successful summits – President's Office

Deputy Head of the Ukrainian President's Office Ihor Zhovkva has said that the 23rd Ukraine-EU Summit was an important stage in the development of political dialogue and the deepening of integration between Ukraine and the European Union, the President's Office has reported.
"The European Union is developing, Ukraine is developing, and our relations are becoming more ambitious, and accordingly, the results of our negotiations and plans for the future are increasing," he said, commenting on the results of the meeting.

Zhovkva focused on a joint statement adopted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the heads of European institutions after the summit. The statement consists of 25 clauses and contains key achievements and agreements of the parties. "Such volume of the document testifies to an increasingly broader and comprehensive bilateral agenda between Ukraine and the European Union," Zhovkva said.

He singled out three main blocks of the joint statement: foreign policy, economy, and reforms.

The economic block of the document sets out achievements in the field of economy and outlines further prospects. In particular, Ukraine will begin even deeper integration into the EU internal market. According to Zhovkva, there have been no such provisions in joint Ukraine-EU statements so far.

"It is very typical that this provision appeared in the paragraph on European aspirations and Ukraine's European choice - we have not had such a combination before," he added.

The document also mentions the main successes of Ukraine in the implementation of the Association Agreement and integration with the European market, and further plans, for example, an Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products.

The parties agreed to complete the second phase of the mission on preliminary assessment of the quality of the Ukrainian infrastructure as soon as possible in order to start official negotiations next year, Zhovkva said.

In the political part of the joint statement, much attention is paid to the issue of security - it is addressed in as many as seven points in the document. According to Zhovkva, along with the traditional signals of the EU's support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, it is clearly stated that Russia is a party to the conflict in Donbas. The need for the deoccupation of Crimea was also clearly supported, and support for the Crimea Platform and the declaration approved by the EU member states was confirmed.

In addition, according to Zhovkva, the EU is currently considering launching an EU military advisory and training mission in Ukraine with the support of the Lithuanian side.

"Given that 2022 has been designated the year of European defense in the EU, the leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation and dialogue in this area, given that the security of the whole Europe depends on the security of Ukraine," he said.

In the issue of implementing reforms in Ukraine, the European Union has clearly supported judicial reform and the laws adopted to implement it. In addition, the success of the head of state in anti-corruption policy was noted. The European Union also noted the Ukrainian president's efforts towards de-oligarchization, commending the adoption of the relevant legislation and emphasizing the need for its full implementation.

Also, according to Zhovkva, an important topic of the Ukraine-EU Summit was the energy security of Europe.

"At a time when Russia is using gas as a weapon, we could not help but talk about it during the summit and stipulate it in the joint statement," Zhovkva said.

According to him, the document clearly states that Russia has no right to use gas as a weapon against Ukraine. The EU has once again supported guarantees of gas transit through Ukraine after 2024. It was also made clear that any new gas pipelines must meet the requirements of the EU's Third Energy Package.

"It is very important that both in the joint statement and following the summit the parties agreed to launch a high-level dialogue on energy issues. This means that Ukraine will be involved in a dialogue with all EU member states, and not only on gas issues," Zhovkva said.

According to him, the potential unification of energy systems of Ukraine and the EU, scheduled for 2023, was discussed at the summit. It was also agreed to start a strategic dialogue on promising areas for the development of renewable energy sources and the use of Ukrainian gas storage facilities.

According to the report, the participants in the meeting paid a lot of attention to the issue of the digital economy. Ukraine's integration into the European Union's digital market was positively noted.

In general, according to Zhovkva, "we can say that the results that Ukraine had sought have been achieved: the achievements of our state have been noted and further steps have been identified."

"Today, the achievements are significant, but several important projects that we will implement have been identified at the summit, and a report on their implementation will be discussed during the next summit," Zhovkva said.

After the signing at this year's summit of the Common Aviation Area Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, the main topic of negotiations in the field of infrastructure was the liberalization of road transport and joint projects in the field of transport aviation.

In addition, according to Zhovkva, important agreements have been concluded, including Ukraine's participation in Horizon Europe, a program that supports science and innovation, and Creative Europe, a program that support Ukrainian writers, directors, musicians, journalists and more.

"In general, the 23rd Summit was a joint success of Ukraine and the European Union. Today, important results were summed up and priorities for the next year were outlined," Zhovkva said.

On October 12, in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed a joint statement following the Ukraine-EU summit, in which the EU reaffirmed its continued commitment to strengthening the political association and economic integration of Ukraine with the European Union and reiterated its unwavering support and commitment to Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.