Ukraine–European Union relations
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 European Union |
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Relations between Ukraine and the European Union (EU) are currently shaped through the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), a foreign policy instrument of the EU designed for the countries it borders. The EU is seeking an increasingly close relationship with Ukraine, going beyond co-operation, to gradual economic integration and deepening of political co-operation. Ukraine is a priority partner within the ENP.
In 2012, the EU initialled deals on free trade and political association with Ukraine; however, EU leaders stated that these agreements would not be ratified unless Ukraine addresses concerns over a "stark deterioration of democracy and the rule of law", including the imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko in 2011 and 2012. Deadlines were set for Ukraine to carry out the required changes to its justice and electoral systems in order to enable the formal signing of their agreements with the EU in Vilnius on 29 November 2013. But although the then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had urged the Ukrainian parliament to adopt laws so that Ukraine could meet the EU's criteria, the Ukrainian government suspended preparations for signing the association agreement on 21 November 2013. Yanukovych still attended the aforementioned EU summit in Vilnius on 28–29 November 2013 where the association agreement was originally planned to be signed but it was not. The decision to put off signing the association agreement led to pro-EU Euromaidan movement. These led to the removal of Yanukovych and his government by parliament after the 2014 Ukrainian revolution in February 2014. Since then, Ukraine has been striving towards integration into the European Union whilst the eastern part of the county has been engaged in pro-Russian unrest, opposing the Euromaidan movement.
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