An exclusive interview of Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle, with the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency Question about your upcoming trip to Ukraine: what is your agenda, meetings and goal? A:My agenda is very intensive. I will have the chance (and as far as I know it will be for the first time in our interactions with Ukraine) to meet with the government as a whole and to address parliamentarians in the Verkhovna Rada. It will also be an opportunity for me to address civil society, and academics, to talk with them about Ukraine, its role in Europe and about the relationship between the EU and Ukraine. The goal is to help to prepare both of us for a good and successful summit on February 25. Another goal is also to make sure that the expectations of the member states concerning the conditions for signing the Association Agreement (AA) at the time of Vilnius summit are matched by the understanding of the Ukrainian authorities of what needs to be done. Q: Will you have a meeting with the prime minister, president, opposition; do you plan to visit Tymoshenko and Lutsenko? A:Starting with your last question, the primary instrument on dealing with this issue is the mission of Pat Cox and Alexander Kwasniewski, who are in Ukraine almost at the same time as me. And it is more important that both presidents have this possibility. Of course, my visit will include also a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. I'm looking forward to confirming the time of the meeting with President Viktor Yanukovych to continue our dialog on the topical issue of the EU-Ukraine relationship agenda. And as for the opposition - this is traditional feature of my visit to Ukraine – I plan to have working lunch with them. Q: According to some statements in Ukraine, the new charges against Tymoshenko mean the upcoming summit could be cancelled or postponed. Did we have this discussion here in Brussels and what is the situation with the preparations for the summit? A:The date of the summit was agreed among other principles [in the conclusion of the EU Council issued in December], and the preparations are ongoing. I believe this summit will be extremely important in terms of results and expectations. This summit will make sure that this road map between "now and the Vilnius summit" will be accompanied by the Ukrainian side delivering on its requirements, which allow us to sign the AA in Vilnius. I do not see reasons even for speculating about not having the summit. At the same time, of course it is important that both parties do their utmost to create a most conducive environment for the summit. The summit always reflects the current mood, it always reflects the topical stories around that time. The summit does not happen in a vacuum. Q: What is the current mood here in the EU because, as a matter of fact, the situation around Tymoshenko is escalating - I’m talking about the new charges? A:On December 10 the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in its Conclusions made absolutely clear not only the willingness and the determination of the member states to sign the AA with Ukraine, but also specified three areas where a progress needs to be achieved. The so-called politically motivated justice is one of them. Second is to address all shortcomings in the election legislation, and third is to hold a number of the reforms of the Association Agenda. So you are referring to one of the three issues. Now the mood toward this one is not really very optimistic. We had a certain understanding and expectation that after the parliamentary elections the Cox-Kwasniewski missions will be able not only to continue as such but also to bring more positive news concerning addressing and solving those issues of politically motivated justice. That has not happened. Instead we see during recent weeks an escalation of the situation around Tymoshenko and Lutsenko. I think the mood in member states and in the EU institutions reflects exactly this, but it doesn’t mean that we do not want to talk about these issues critically at the summit. I hope very much that the Cox-Kwasniewsi mission will bring some positive elements for the de-escalation of the situation. Q: It will soon be two months since the December Conclusion was issued. Do you see any progress from the Ukrainian side? A:I don't want at this point of time to talk about any specific achievements, actually this is a reason of my trip to look into that. I can only say that I have been encouraged by Prime Minister Azarov at the end of December issuing very specific instructions for the members of his government what needs to be done addressing the Conclusion of the FAC. I have been encouraged because it was also Prime Minister Azarov's idea to have this full meeting with the government in Kyiv to look at two things again: the compatibility between our expectations stemming from the decision of FAC, and the list as interpreted by Ukraine of what needs to be done. This is the first of our tasks. And the second is to see exactly what the issues are, and if progress has already been made, so we can come back to the issue after this trip. Q: Do we have any deadline for Ukraine to achieve the benchmarks from the December conclusion so that the AA can be signed in Vilnius? A:I think the ultimate deadline is the summit itself, November in Vilnius. We have clear understanding of what needs to be done and we have a political calendar which needs to be observed for us to be able to sign this AA in Vilnius. But it does not mean: A) that we can wait until the last couple of days or weeks before the summit and then with reference to the importance of the AA undertake some kind of special arrangement and to push the member states to lower the bar for political requirements. B) It also does not mean that anyone should expect at the end of January or the beginning of February that Ukraine will be fully ready to deliver on all three issues. At the same time, we have to stick to the political calendar. In spring, or late spring we will move the AA to the member states table for their consideration, asking for a mandate to sign it at the Vilnius summit and recommending also a certain specific parts of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) for the provisional application of that treaty. That is why we need to have the kind of interaction between the EU and Ukraine that would allow Ukraine to gradually build on the implementation of what is being defined by the December FAC. Q: If Ukraine does not fulfill these requirements, fails to address these three issues and the AA is not signed this year, what kind of scenario do you see for the future of this document. Will it be signed in the next five years, six years, or never? A:Stop. Stop there. Ok? Let’s not speculate. I see only one scenario. I’m pretty confident that our joint work will lead us to the signature of the AA. We have invested a lot of effort and years of negotiation. This is the first such an agreement between the EU and any of its partners. This is a breakthrough. Using a political and legal basis any partner can be closer associated with the EU. It opens the door for economic integration, including gradual membership and gradual participation in the internal market. We have all necessary ingredients for turning 2013 into a very good year for Ukraine-EU relationship and for Ukraine to re-assess its place and role in Europe. We have a date, we have a venue in Vilnius, we have a clear list of what needs to be done, we have a political calendar, we are determined to assist as much as we can to Ukraine to deliver on those issues and we have at this point of time all the political commitments we need, including the preparation in the Verhovna Rada of a resolution that would address the European aspirations of Ukraine. Why would we in this situation think about any other alternative or scenarios? Q: Because there are always alternatives and scenarios, keeping in mind the efforts to make Ukraine a member of the Customs Union (CU)… How far can Ukraine go in cooperation with the CU without damaging the DCFTA with the EU? Is there a limit beyond which Ukraine cannot go? A:No one should have a doubt that good relations with neighbors, including Russia, are in the interests of Ukraine and in the interests of Brussels. Good trade relations, including free trade areas, and numbers of other trade relations are good for both Ukraine and the EU. At the same time (and we have never hidden this) the membership of the CU takes away from a member state its sovereign rights, its sovereignty over external trade policy. And this is a very serious step. We cannot enter into AA commitments with a country that does not have sovereign rights to take decisions on its external trade policy in its own hands. We cannot enter into a relationship with Ukraine knowing that a decision is being made somewhere else by someone else. At the same time, we made it clear that if there is any possibility for Ukrainians to participate in specific provisions of the CU that would not contradict commitments stemming from the AA, that Ukrainian side already initialed, we would not have a problem with it. That would of course require intensive consultation just to make sure that indeed such a cooperation and relationship with the part of CU policies are fully compatible with the AA. Q: When Ukrainians will have real visa liberalization? A:We have signed a treaty with Ukraine on visa facilitation which is now in the European Parliament, and we hope it will soon improve the current visa policy. We have a visa action plan with Ukraine. A list has been given to Ukraine which clearly sets out what kind of legislation, what kind of steps need to be taken for the member states to be able to provide Ukraine a visa free regime for the Schengen countries. You remember that the Action Plan (AP) has two stages: the first one where we and our partners, with Ukraine working on delivering of the list of specific legislative acts and the second stage is the implementation. Now it is a pity that there are still a couple of the legislative acts that we are finalizing for the first stage of this Visa Liberalization Action Plan. I hope very much that the preparation for a summit, the summit itself would be used by Ukrainian authorities to create momentum in this area. Because this is for the people of Ukraine, this is not just for a few bureaucrats or politicians in Ukraine. I hope that, for the benefit of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian authorities will be able to deliver on those remaining issues that will allow us to send a report to the member states about first stage, making some further analysis, and opening the second stage. The ultimate decision to allow Ukraine a visa free regime will be for the member states. So this is not a never ending story, it is not a moving target, the list of what needs to be done is clear from the very beginning, the process is very clear, very transparent and the speed with which you deliver on that expectation does not depend on bureaucrats here in Brussels, but on the political courage and determination of Ukrainian politicians. Q: Recently Head of the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok said that it is time to introduce a visa ban for some of officials, like First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin. Will this position come to the reality? A:There are no proposals for a visa ban on any Ukrainian officials on the EU table. Q: The Eastern Partnership Summit. Can we expect that during Vilnius summit Brussels will give a clear signal about the EU membership prospects for all partner countries? A:Thank you for this question, as it will allow me to make it absolutely clear that any progress on the European perspective does not depend only on this kind of courage of European politicians, but also our partners delivering reforms. The European perspective should not be just a reflection of some kind of political declarations and political aspirations, it should also match the real capacity of the political elites, and a sustainable way to deliver on reforms and transformation in their countries. You cannot separate these two issues. So if I have been asked what can anyone in the Eastern partner countries do to take such a step forward, my answer would be: accelerate reforms, help us, all of us, to see that European aspiration, this most powerful instrument of transformation, being used in this part of Europe as well, help us create reform momentum in this part of Europe. Politicians from the EU understand that this is not only a challenge but a great opportunity to indeed make Europe a stable, united and prosperous continent.