What's Ahead For EU & Ukraine After Mixed Riga Summit
The purpose of the EU summit in Riga was not to achieve something dramatic but more to talk about what needs to be done, said David Stulik Press Officer of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.
The purpose of the EU summit in Riga was not to achieve something dramatic but more to talk about what needs to be done, said David Stulik Press Officer of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.
Many have cited the EU's failure to grant Ukraine EU visa free travel at the summit as a disappointment. However, according to Stulik, visa free travel to the EU, like for any associate member, is a “merit-based exercise”. According to Stulik, Ukraine must reach certain benchmarks in order for it to be granted; namely the country must be able to control its flow of internally displaced persons and illegal migrants.
At the summit it was announced that the EU would grant Ukraine a 1.8 billion euro loan. Stulik told Hromadske that the money will go straight to Ukrainian state budget and it will be up to the Ukrainian government to decide how this money will be distributed to different sector. In order to check that the loan is being properly spent, said Stulik, EU experts will be coming to Ukraine on assessment missions and will thoroughly check whether the conditions and benchmarks are being fulfilled.
Hromadske International's Nataliya Gumenyuk and Ian Bateson spoke with David Stulik on May 24, 2015.