What Did Brussels and Kyiv Agree on at Joint Government Meeting?

On February 2, a large-scale event took place in Kyiv - the first-ever joint meeting of the government of Ukraine and the European Commission. Ursula von der Leyen and a team of 15 commissioners arrived in Kyiv to attend the Ukraine-EU summit next day.

Joint trips of the European Commission's collegium abroad are not just rare, but an absolutely extraordinary event.

Authorities in Brussels warned journalists at a closed briefing ahead of the summit: the goal is to send a signal that Ukraine's EU accession is inevitable.

"The question as to whether Ukraine will join the European family has been decisively answered with a yes. It's not a question of if anymore," said von der Leyen.

Indeed, Ursula von der Leyen pointed out this thesis in her speech in Kyiv.

However, despite truly ambitious statements, Brussels still needs to be ready to discuss specifics. In particular, they want to avoid mentioning the terms of moving to the EU.

The biggest challenge is Kyiv's fulfillment of the seven "candidate requirements," which is a must for opening negotiations for Ukraine's EU accession. Ursula von der Leyen answered the direct question of "European Pravda" whether the European Commission was ready to provide Ukraine with a written document on what Kyiv is obliged to do to meet European requirements. She stated that the report would only be "verbal" and only for the EU member states. Ukraine will know their assessment only in October.

Despite this, the government believes that the European Union evaluation will be available in the spring.

But let's go back to the intergovernmental agreements between Ukraine and the EU.

The officials stated at the joint meeting publicly, as well as at the press conference afterward that the priority now is EU-Ukraine single market.

Trade has now become almost free after the European Union canceled all fees and zeroed out duty-free quotas in the summer of 2022 to support Ukrainian exporters. However, this unilateral EU decision remains temporary – until mid-2023.

But there is good news: Ursula von der Leyen announced in Kyiv that she would like to initiate the extension of this exceptional regime for at least another year.

Also, the EU will extend free entry of Ukrainian cargo carriers for a year.

A free trade area between the European Union and Ukraine is a much deeper level of integration. The EU not only renounces fee tools but also recognises all inspections, certificates, etc., issued by Ukrainian authorities.

The editors have a document entitled "Priority Action Plan for 2023-2024," which will be the roadmap for enhancing Ukraine's access to the internal market.

Kyiv and Brussels agreed that some duties and quotas would not have to be reapplied even after Ukraine's victory.

The second new direction of liberalisation is free roaming between Ukraine and the EU. A way forward has been agreed upon to include Ukraine in the EU's "Roam Like at Home" zone once it ensures full implementation of the EU acquis in this area

The third, true breakthrough in bilateral trade is the export of Ukrainian meat products to the EU.

One more direction that will help develop Ukrainian animal husbandry, for which the European market should open, are animal diseases. Ukraine proposes to agree on the mutual recognition of "regionalisation" so that, say, an outbreak of swine disease in one region of Ukraine could not block exports of the entire country, as had happened pretty often in the past.

And finally, the European Union first time ever, promised to move towards certain dates of adoption of the so-called "industrial visa-free," which should cancel additional certification for the safety of industrial goods.