Ukraine welcomes the EU Reform Treaty signature

Ukraine welcomes the EU Reform Treaty signature at the Lisbon European Council summit on December 13, 2007, according to the statement of the Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry.

According to the statement, Ukraine perceives this as another step to deepen integration between EU member states. Ukraine considers that the reform of EU institutions and their decisions’ making system proposed in the Treaty constitutes a beginning of the transformation to a qualitatively new system of the European international architecture.

 This event enables a new stage in development of the enlarged EU, which will function under better institutional abilities, effectiveness and viability. Readiness of the EU member states to develop their relations in the framework of the EU in the spirit of tolerance and compromise, with balance between national peculiarities of the member states and interests of the European construction was again reconfirmed.   

 Ukraine welcomes a professional job of the German and Portuguese presidencies done with a view to find compromises between the EU member states positions that resulted in conclusion of the Treaty.

 Ukraine hopes that ratification of the EU Reform Treaty and its entrance in force would return openness and dynamism to the European Union. The process of EU enlargement would continue and accession of new member states will depend not on timeserving political speculations but on their compliance with objectively defined criteria of EU membership.  

  Ukraine welcomes that the Treaty text has preserved the provision that acknowledges a right of every European country, which shares EU values, to apply for EU membership.

The only this unbiased approach should be applied to European countries, which share today a common border with the EU and have relevant European integration ambitions.

 Ukraine is convinced in successful ratification of this compromise Treaty by all EU member states. We expect that the EU member states holding the EU presidency subsequently - Slovenia, France and Czech Republic – would contribute to the entrance of this Treaty in force at the planed terms.