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European Council President: No one can interfere in the decision of a sovereign state

29 November 2013 13:00 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva – APA. “The European Union is ready to sign an association agreement with Ukraine. The door is still open. Today, a signature has not been put, it has been postponed. But we hope that sooner or later Ukraine will be ready to sign the agreement. We will continue working with Ukraine,” said President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy at the press conference on the outcomes of the Vilnius summit. He said that the EU’s position is clear and offer to sign the association agreement is still valid.

Rompuy stressed the need to overcome the pressure of third countries when signing such documents: “It is high time to be courageous and pass decisions. Viewing the long-term prospects, there is no doubt that the signing of the association agreement will benefit the Ukrainian people and the country’s economy.”

Herman van Rompuy said Russia is a strategic partner of the EU, but every country has the right to pass decisions independently.

“No one can interfere in the decision of a sovereign state,” he said.

President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said signing of association agreements with Eastern Partnership countries is not a process against somebody or something, it is a process for the sake of democracy and development.

“The times of limited sovereignty are over,” he said.

Jose Manuel Barroso underlined that the proposal on EU-Ukraine-Russia trilateral consultations on the association agreement is inadmissible.

“Our strategic cooperation with Russia does not give ground to involve a third party in the bilateral discussions,” he said.