Press Conference on the views of the civil society on the upcoming EU-Ukraine Summit

On the 21^st of February the Secretariat of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum hosted a press conference at which the representatives of the Ukrainian National Platform of the Civil Society Forum shared their views and expectations at the crucial juncture of the EU-Ukraine relations in advance of the upcoming EU-Ukraine Summit with the press, think tank representatives and other interested parties.

Oleksandr Sushko, member of the Steering Committee and National Facilitator of the Ukrainian National Platform of the Civil Society Forum, Yaryna Borenko, member of the Steering Committee from the NGO “European Dialogue” and Igor Zhdanov from the Open Policy Institute addressed the participants and presented the appeal of the Ukrainian National Platform to the EU, in which the Ukrainian civil society urges the European Union and its member-states to display solidarity with the citizens of Ukraine and to reveal their support by offering Ukraine the prospect of a European future. The Platform urges the EU and its member-states to sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine in 2013 thereby creating an additional instrument for preventing any reversal of Ukraine’s pro-European choice.

The Ukrainian National Platform shared the concerns expressed by the EU and welcomed the Foreign Affairs Council Conclusion of 10 December. However, the National Platform underlined that the Association Agreement must not to become a victim of the current difficult relations between the EU and Ukraine and emphasized the need for the agreement to be signed. The Association Agreement should not be seen as a reward for the current administration, but as an instrument for the transformation of Ukraine into sustainable democracy.

The full appeal of the Ukrainian National Platform is available in English and Ukrainian.

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