EU to Sign Part of Association Agreement with Ukraine Next Week

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (R), Photo by EPA/BGNES

The political part of EU's Association Agreement in Ukraine will probably be signed next week.

After Wednesday's talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that, "if there are no technical obstacles", signing of some documents regarding the agreement should take place at the upcoming meeting of the European Council, which is next week.

Deutsche Welle quoted him as saying that he and Chancellor Merkel were "both of the opinion that it would be good and useful to sign the association agreement as quickly as possible," as it would be helpful to the transitional government in Kiev.

It was precisely the refusal to sign of an EU Association Agreement that triggered protests and violence across Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych in mid-November 2013 and led to him fleeing the country after Parliament declared him "illegitimate" on February 22 this year.

Merkel and Tusk also discussed forming an assistance program aimed at supporting Ukraine in rebuilding those areas for which Kiev has specifically requested help, such as the financial sector. 

The two leaders also spoke of further possibilities of imposing sanctions on Russia due to its stance in Ukrainian region of Crimea's standoff. 

Ruling out military action against Moscow, Merkel re-offered to set up a contact group to mediate between Russia and Ukraine (originally a German idea put forward last week), declaring however that time to accept the proposal was "running out".

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov announced that the Kremlin was refusing any requests for talks with the country's interim leadership.

In Merkel's words, if the idea of a contact group...

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