Tigipko: If EU says no, Ukraine is likely to reorient to Customs Union

Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister and Social Policy Minister Sergiy Tigipko has said that if the European Union refuses to continue to cooperate with Kyiv, Ukraine is likely to join the Customs Union.

“If the European Union says an absolutely clear no, the possibility of [Ukraine’s] reorientation to the Customs Union is very high,” Tigipko said in an interview with the Den (Day) newspaper, when asked about the possibility of Ukraine’s deviation from the European course.

“People who today want to see Ukraine in the Customs Union can receive a very serious argument for movement to the union,” the Vice Prime Minister said.

According to Tigipko, Ukraine has to bring its respective legislation in line with European norms and agree on creation of a free trade area to become closer to the EU.

“I think work on adaptation [of Ukrainian] legislation to European legislation should be carried out first, after which we could start to discuss the signing of an agreement on a free trade area with the EU. If problems with democracy appear, we will discuss them. The main problem today, as for me, is that Ukraine has not put its legislation in line with the European norms. Only when this stage is over, we will speak about the next one,” he said.

When asked whether the conviction of former Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko could become an obstacle on the way to signing of the association agreement and creation of a free trade area with the EU, Tigipko said: “I don’t know. The next talks will show this. We can’t discuss a prospect that does not exist

Source: www.kyivpost.com

Date: 18 October 2011