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Å tefan FÃ¼le: â€œJoining the Customs Union means losing sovereignty in trade policyâ€

03 May 2013 13:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementyeva – APA. "The European Union sees no contradiction between Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the EU and Customs Union," said EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle, APA reports. Answering the questions of the students of Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Füle noted that the CIS countries’ cooperation with the EU and Customs Union doesn’t mean the choice between the relations with Moscow and Brussels: “We want to see Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the Customs Union and the European Union. There is nothing contradictory here,” he said.

However, he said the European Union’s cooperation with the countries of the Customs Union may require the establishment of regulatory frameworks: “But there is a problem. Joining the Customs Union means losing sovereignty in trade policy. The country will be unable to negotiate independently on trade issues."

Štefan Füle noted that the European Union is holding negotiations on the association agreement with several countries, including Azerbaijan: "This issue brought up during my recent visit to Moscow. It is important to find a specific element to hold negotiations with the countries of the Customs Union on this issue.”