UPCOMING CONSEQUENCES OF THE ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN UKRAINE AND THE EU

УДК 65.712.82

Долгополов Д.Г., студент 3 курсу
ХНЕУ ім. С. Кузнеця

According to the typology developed by Bela Balassa, six main forms of regional integration can be identified: the preferential trade zone, the free trade zone (tariffs and quotas are abolished between member countries); customs union (adoption of a common external tariff as in the case of the UET Turkey Association Agreement),the common market (to the integration of a market for goods and services, plus the free movement of people), the economic union(coordination of economic policies) and full economic integration (common currency and integrated budget systems). A dynamic prevails from one stage to another.

The extension of the internal market to the countries covered by theneighborhood would have legal and economic benefits. For the competition rules alone, a convergence process would have three main advantages: it would contribute to the international integration of neighboring countries since the agreements signed must be compatible with the rules of the WTO; it would reduce transaction costs for investors, increasing economies of scale over a large territory organized according to similar rules of law; it would enable Europeans to strengthen their weight in international trade negotiations by broadening the geographical base of their standards. In the hypothesis of a virtuous circle, the process of convergence could extend to the institutional field insofar as supervisory institutions should ensure compliance with the standards. In this respect, the Union has a know-how which has proved its worth during each enlargement.

The 16th of September, 2014 is the date that the European Parliament and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, which sets a new format of relations on the basis of political association and economic integration principles.

The ratification of the Agreement is the instrument for the European development of Ukraine. The key consequences of the signing of this document are: adaptation of the national legislation to the EU legislation, the political association and cooperation in the field of security and defense, the introduction of a free trade zone, positive consequences for Ukrainian businesses, positive consequence for the agricultural sector, changes in the areas of justice, freedom and security.

Thus, the Agreement defines the areas of legislation that need to be harmonized with the EU legislation (environment, finance and banking system, transport, social policy, technical regulation, consumer protection, corporate law, customs law etc), contains a list of more than 350 directives and other normative-legal acts which will be gradually embodied in the legislation of Ukraine, provides a joint policy of Ukraine and the EU on security and defense, conflict prevention, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, disarmament and arms control, combating terrorism etc.

Increasing the attractiveness of the Ukrainian territory is therefore a priority for foreign investors to participate in the dissemination of new standards and the raising of qualifications. In this regard, the shortcomings of Ukraine are known. According to surveys of foreign investors, the most serious obstacles are fewer tariffs than practices of the local and national Ukrainian administration. The main grievances concern the random application of legislative texts, the frequency of inspections with penalties, the legal uncertainty resulting from sometimes confusing conceptions of the market economy or corruption, particularly in the customs and tax administrations.

In all these areas, the action plan adopted with Ukraine includes a series of measures that can enhance the attractiveness of the country.It proposes a legal modernization that would consist, in particular, of eliminating the inconsistencies between the commercial and civil codes and treating, regardless of their nationality, economic agents in the same way throughout the territory and in all sectors.

Thus, the Association Agreement with the EU is a unique bilateral document that goes far beyond similar agreements concluded by the EU with the Eastern Europe nations. The Agreement creates a qualitatively new legal basis for the relations between Ukraine and the EU. It also serves a strategic guidance system for the further development of Ukraine as a democratic state based on the generally accepted European norms and principles.