“EU membership is a strategic goal for Ukraine. Speaking about the exact time, we should understand that both Ukraine and EU should get ready for that, keeping in mind the complications within the EU itself", Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine said in Exclusive interview with Canadian Press.
Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine and hero of the Orange Revolution in 1994, comes to Canada on Monday May 26 to address Parliament at 11 AM; meet on Tuesday in Winnipeg with the Premiers of Manitoba and Alberta and on Wednesday he will address the Economic Club in Toronto and announce an important business deal.
“The work on getting the formal membership cannot substitute the process of comprehensive preparation for it. Now we have to focus on the practical steps that are needed in order to make Ukraine ready for joining the EU. These are the systematic reforms especially in economics and judicial system, adaptation of the national legislature to the EU standards.
“On the other side, EU itself is now facing challenges on the way to adapt to the new realities after the recent enlargement. In this aspect, I believe that the new Lisbon Treaty will create a solid basis for EU functioning and will help the European Union to be dynamic and open again.
“Today the main issue in the EU-Ukraine relations is the new treaty [free trade treaty]. We hope the work on the main section of it – the political one – will be finalized by the next EU-Ukraine summit on the 9th September 2008 in France. The principle of the political association has to be recognized as the basis for the European integration of Ukraine in this section of the new treaty, ” Yushenko said in exclusive interview with Canadian press.
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