The European Union expects proposals from Ukraine to settle problems around a moratorium on round timber exports, European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis.

"During debates today, we see that both the president and the government are looking for ways how to solve this problem and how to remove this obstacle, which does not accord with the deep and comprehensive free trade area," he said at a meeting with journalists in the framework of the 13th annual Yalta European Strategy meeting "The World, Europe and Ukraine: Storms of Change" in Kyiv on Friday.

Dombrovskis stressed that the moratorium on the export of round timber is contrary to the idea of the free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU, and is an obstacle - along with the failure to adopt a law on the independent regulator of the energy market - to Ukraine's getting EUR 600 million in EU macro-financial assistance.

"We are now looking forward to concrete proposals by the government, debates on this topic is still underway," he said.

Dombrovskis added that the European Commission expects draft laws and draft decisions by the Ukrainian government on this subject.