European Parliament urges ratification of Georgia’s AA

A couple of European Parliament members are calling on all member states to ratify Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova’s Association Agreements (AA) with the European Union (EU) as soon as possible.

"With respect to the Association Agreements between the EU and Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, we engage ourselves to facilitate a speedy consent procedure within the European Parliament and we call on member states to ratify those agreements without delay,” read a joint statement by European Parliament’s chair of the Committee on International Trade Bernd Lange and chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok.

The statement mainly concerned ratification of AA deals with Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova and the European Parliament called on the European Commission to effectively assist the three eastern European countries with provisional application of the AA by all means available. The statement also touched upon the EU/Russia sanctions.

"We call on our trading partners from all around the world to refrain from trade arrangements with Russia that would undermine the impact of the EU economic sanctions and would lead to the replacement of the EU products on the Russian market; we call on the EU to engage in the necessary diplomatic activity in this regard,” it read.

The two European lawmakers condemned the arbitrary trade restrictions regularly imposed by Russia on imports of goods from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia "not just now but at least for two years, which is contrary to Russia’s engagements as a WTO member.”

Lange and Brok believed the EU did its utmost to support Ukrainian, Moldovan and Georgian exporters when necessary.

The seven point statement, issued on August 18, said the EU fully endorsed the trade and investment restrictions for Crimea and Sevastopol, which complemented the ban on imports of goods not certified by the Ukrainian authorities from those territories.

Georgia’s Parliament ratified the AA with 123 votes in favour and zero against. The AA was signed in Brussels on June 27 with the aim of setting up an all-embracing framework to conduct bilateral relations.

EU’s Association Agreements with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have already been ratified by Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria. The agreement has to be ratified by all EU member states and the European Parliament.