Twenty years ago, on September 5, 1997, leaders of the European Union came to Ukraine and urged Ukraine’s leaders to restart the country’s stalled reform programs.
European Commission President Jacques Santer and Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker, the holder of the EU’s rotating presidency (who is now president of the European Commission), flew into Kyiv for several hours for the first-ever meeting between the leaders of the EU and Ukraine. Although the meeting was called a “summit,” it was more like a “getting to know you” affair, Mr. Juncker acknowledged. “This first meeting was not merely symbolic, it allowed us to get to know one another,” he said at a press conference with Mr. Santer and Ukraine’s president Leonid Kuchma.
The EU leaders brought with them a pledge of $100 million in aid from the EU for containing Chornobyl reactor No. 4, which was deteriorating. G-7 leaders at its Denver summit on June 20-22 pledged $300 million toward a new sarcophagus. The new sarcophagus was completed this year. The EU’s gift was conditional on Ukraine upgrading its stringent nuclear safety standards. “The nuclear safety of the sites [in Rivne and Khmelnytsky] must be 100 percent ascertained,” said Mr. Santer, with Mr. Juncker adding, “It also means that Chornobyl must be closed by the year 2000.”
The EU leaders praised Mr. Kuchma’s economic efforts in the stabilization of the Ukrainian currency and the leveling of inflation, but urged the president to pursue a free-market economy for Ukraine. “We look positively at the changes that have taken place in this country, but realize there is still much to be done,” said Mr. Juncker. “We call on people not to move away from the path of economic reforms. If Ukraine wants to get closer to the European Union, the reforms that have begun must continue and deepen.”
In 1997 the EU was Ukraine’s second-largest trading partner after Russia. In 1996, Ukraine exported 1.5 billion European Currency Units to the EU and imported 2.6 billion ECU. The EU was also the biggest foreign investor in Ukraine in 1997, with over a third of the total foreign investment – more than that of Russia and the United States combined.
This year, the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was ratified by the EU on July 11 and went into effect on September 1. Although the EU-Ukraine relationship began on economic terms with the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, the agreement will ensure closer cooperation in areas of foreign policy, justice, education, science and technology. The agreement is also intended to align the Ukrainian economy with EU standards by harmonizing laws and regulations.
Source: “European Union leaders travel to Kyiv for first meeting with Ukrainian officials,” by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, September 14, 1997.