The international trade committee of the European Parliament today voted by a large majority for the abolition of trade barriers for Ukraine. Under the proposal, the tariff reductions and the elimination of trade barriers are initially limited until 1 November 2014.
The spokesman for the EPP Group in the European Parliament’s international trade committee, Daniel Caspary (CDU) explained: “Europe shows that it can act quickly when it matters. These tariff reductions are intended to prevent a crash of the Ukrainian economy and thus to avoid the spread of mass unemployment in Ukraine. The people of Ukraine fought on the Maidan for democracy and rule of law. The EU must not let them down. Our goal remains the signing of the comprehensive association agreement with Ukraine”.
Caspary criticized the rejection of the proposal by the left-wing GUE political group. “The left-wing GUE political group once again whose side it is on. In public they preach solidarity and human rights, and then they deny those people their support who stand up for freedom and democracy. They are obviously not interested in the fate of the ordinary people of Ukraine”.
The EU trade aid for Ukraine still has to be approved by the plenary of the European Parliament. The plenary vote is scheduled for 3rd April 2014.
