Following a meeting with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister on 17 July in Brussels, Ferrero-Waldner said there was "good progress on the enhanced agreement" and only "some small open questions on Ukraine’s WTO accession" remaining.
The EU is pushing for an "early accession" of its neighbouring country to the World Trade Organisation, in order to "pave the way for negotiations on a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement", which is at the core of the new enhanced agreement.
Ukraine hopes to join the WTO by the end of the year.
However, the External Relations Commissioner also made clear that Ukraine should first overcome its internal political crisis and ensure that the upcoming elections on 30 September are "conducted in a fully democratic manner and in accordance with international standards".
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk pledged that "Ukraine will have transparent, democratic and legitimate elections". He said: "We realise that democratic elections are somehow interlinked with Ukraine-EU relations. That is why we are interested in having the most transparent elections we ever had."
Ferrero-Waldner stated that the agreement would be the "most advanced within our neighbourhood policy" and that the EU "will do everything to get it as soon as possible".
Yatsenyuk added that closer ties with the EU were "the choice of the Ukrainian population". He said: "That’s why we don’t have any discrepancies within the political forces. Everyone backs European integration and our road towards the EU."
