Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-08-Speech-3-218"
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"en.20081008.23.3-218"2
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"Madam President, I would like to thank the European Parliament for promptly giving its opinion and adopting this positive report, as it is important that this agreement is formalised as soon as possible after Ukrainian accession to the WTO, to avoid any legal vacuum.
But, as I stressed before, we should not forget that this process is not just about economic opportunities. It is part of a broader test of the transformation of Ukraine and its partnership with the European Union.
Following Ukraine’s accession to the WTO, this agreement preserves two very important commitments that help our international maritime operators in their activities in Ukraine.
The first provision ensures national treatment to nationals and companies of the Community providing international maritime transport services when providing international sea-river services in the inland waterways of Ukraine. The second preserves the so-called Greek clause, which allows EU or Ukraine nationals or shipping companies established outside the EU or Ukraine to benefit from the provisions on maritime services
if their vessels are registered in the EU or Ukraine respectively.
These two provisions will be integrated in the very ambitious Free Trade Agreement we are currently negotiating with Ukraine. This Free Trade Agreement is referred to as a deep and comprehensive FTA and it should indeed correspond to these qualifiers.
We are keen that this should be so because of the important political and economic considerations at stake in relation to Ukraine. The process we are engaged in is not just about trade and investment flows. It is a sign of Ukraine’s continuing political and economic integration into the global economy, and deep partnership with the EU.
The Free Trade Agreement is one of the central elements of the broader Association Agreement we are negotiating with Ukraine in the context of the neighbourhood policy.
To the extent that Ukraine can transpose, implement and enforce the EU
in some key areas, as foreseen under the current Free Trade Agreement negotiations, the European Union should be ready to extend the internal market benefits in these areas. This is especially valid for services where there can be most added value for both partners. Furthermore, because Ukraine’s WTO commitments in the field of services are already very broad, the FTA and the
approximation process will allow us to tackle beyond-the-border barriers.
This agreement will incentivise EU foreign direct investment in Ukraine by cutting red tape and bringing transparency as well as helping exporters and service providers on both sides, by bringing our relations closer and sharing our standards. As a consequence we should see accelerated trade flows and an increase of personal contacts that result from growing small businesses and regional supply chains.
This is of course a challenging and lengthy process but the Commission believes that this agreement will set the framework and create the incentives for this convergence to occur."@en1
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