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Poroshenko Sees Ukraine Applying For EU Membership By 2020

September 25, 2014
by RFE/RL

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has presented a broad plan of reforms that he said would allow Ukraine to apply for membership in the European Union in six years.

At a September 25 news conference in Kyiv, Poroshenko also said that his peace deal with pro-Russian separatists meant that the 'most dangerous' part of the five-month conflict in eastern Ukraine was over.

Poroshenko said his reform plan, called Strategy-2020, included some 60 social and economic reforms and programs.

He singled out priority areas for reform, including ridding the system of corruption and decentralizing the power structures, reforming the tax system as well as law enforcement and security bodies, and working toward achieving energy independence.

Poroshenko signed the trade and economic relations portion of a key Association Agreement with the EU in Brussels on June 27. It provides for the creation of a Deep and Comprehensive Free-Trade Area (DCFTA) and closer economic integration.

Ukraine's parliament ratified the agreement on September 16.

However, the implementation of the trade part of the agreement has been delayed until January 2016 to appease Russia, which says the pact will hurt its markets.

Poroshenko on September 25 said Ukraine's only alternative to 'ambitious reforms' is to be 'left alone with Russia.'

He also said he expects to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the next three weeks.

Poroshenko earlier ordered a temporary closure of Ukraine's border with Russia.

A decree published on the presidential website ordered the government 'to settle...the issue of temporarily closing checkpoints on Ukraine's state border with the Russian Federation to cars, sea, and pedestrian traffic.'

A senior Ukrainian security source said that the border security measure was designed to halt the alleged smuggling of weapons into the separatist east and would enter into force 'soon.'

Also on September 25, Ukrainian parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchynov signed a lustration bill that had been adopted by the parliament on September 16.

Under the law, up to 1 million public servants, including cabinet ministers, will be screened for loyalty to root out corrupt practices left over from the previous administration of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.

The law is expected to purge officials linked to the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's east and Russia's other structures, including intelligence.

Officials unable to explain their sources of income and assets will be banned from public office for five to 10 years.

After signing the document at a press conference in Kyiv on September 25 in the presence of journalists and public activists, Turchynov called on Poroshenko to sign the bill into law by the end of the day.

With reporting by Reuters and ITAR-TASS

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/turchynov-lustration- bill-ukraine-parliament-poroshenko-law/26605635.html

Copyright (c) 2014. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.