YES Board Members met EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn to discuss prospects of further enlargement of the EU and including Ukraine in that process.

YES Board Members presented to Commissioner Rehn a strategic document for Ukraine's accession to the EU, "Agenda 2020". According to YES, there is a need of a new format for the EU-Ukraine relations and a new quality of a cooperation framework that would not be limited to the general European Neighbourhood Policy.
"I have no doubt that Ukraine is a European country," said Commissioner Rehn. And, although neither the EU nor Ukraine is ready for Ukraine joining the EU today, it is important keep on working for making Ukraine and the EU closer to each other. "I welcome Ukraine's aspiration," said Commissioner Rehn.
YES Board Members view the meeting as successful. According to Alexander Kwasniewski, Polish President in 1995-2005, Ukraine's initiatives of developing a programme in support of the country's integration to the EU find approval in the EU. "Politically it is necessary to support the idea of Ukraine's membership in the European Union. This is very important, as many questions emerged after the most recent EU enlargement. And, probably, the EU is not ready to have a strategic plan for Ukraine right now. However, or mission is to draft such a plan and support all the efforts made to ensure that the EU enlargement continues, for this is a historic process. And Ukraine occupies a key place in this process", said President Kwasniewski.

Chairman of the Delegation of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Committee of the European Parliament Marek Siwiec, today there are good prospects for the EU to formulate its ideas that will fulfill the EU-Ukraine dialogue. "The recent EU-Ukraine summit was positive and productive, but now we expect more, Marek Siwiec stressed. It is important that we are clear about the status of countries within the European neighbourhood Policy. There is Ukraine, and there are other countries. There are real, geographical neighbours. But there is also the notion of neighbours in mentality. And Ukraine in this way is different from many other neighbour states.

"The EU should revise its neighbourhood policy, for today Ukraine is placed in the same basket as Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco", said YES founder Victor Pinchuk. "Of course those countries are also members of Europe, but still they are not European countries. The policy towards them and towards Ukraine should be different. I think our message has been heard.
Victor Pinchuk also added that Europe is ready to see Ukraine joining it in some 15-20 years. "If we are there earlier - that means we've done even better. There is a good feeling about Ukraine. This is the key message I have heard here today," the YES founder stressed. He reminded about Article 49 of the Treaty of the European Union which enables any European country that shares the values of the EU and meets certain criteria to apply to join the EU. "If we want to move to the EU, that is our decision, our choice, Pinchuk stressed, - and in order to do that we must accomplish the reforms that are critically important for us. Regardless whether or not we will become members of the EU, those reforms for us is a value in themselves."
YES Board members and Olli Rehn agreed on the importance to develop and implement a project of preparing young Ukrainian specialists who would be directly involved in working towards Ukraine's EU accession in the future. "They should be experts in the process of Ukraine's accession to the EU and then - in Ukraine's EU membership. I think that here is Europe there is understanding of the importance of such a project. The resources, necessary for its implementation, can be found in the European Union. It is necessary that more young Ukrainians could come to the EU, work here, learn, see how the EU institutions work", said President Kwasniewski.

The Agenda 2020 was developed by YES as a plan that describes the whole complex of steps to be made for the integration of Ukraine to the EU. In October 2006 the document was presented by YES to President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko and was highly commented on as a document that should be studied by politicians and taking into account in the process of shaping the strategy and tactics of Ukraine's EU integration course. The decisions approved by the recent EU-Ukraine summit are in line with the steps proposed by the Agenda 2020, included the liberalization of the visa regime and prospects for creation of a free trade area between Ukraine and the EU after Ukraine's accession to WTO.

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