European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle underlined incompatibility of a membership in the Customs Union with signing of agreement on profound and overall free trade area with the EU.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, he said this today during his speech in the European Parliament within a framework of the debates concerning a pressure of Russia on the countries of the “European Partnership”.
“It is true that a membership in the Customs Union is incompatible with a profound and overall free trade area, and we hold negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia concerning this issue. It is not because of ideological disagreements, it is not an issue of conflict of economic blocs or a game of survival. It is because of a legal impossibility: for example, you can not decrease your customs tariffs within a framework of a profound and overall free trade area and to increase it within a framework of the Customs Union at the same time”, - said the commissioner.
He underlined that in order to get benefits from profound and overall free trade area, the partner countries should be independent in defying their trade policy, and that is impossible within a framework of the membership of the Customs Union.
At the same time, the commissioner noted that signing of agreements on profound and overall free trade area does not contradict to agreements, which EU partners have on free trade within a framework of the CIS. Moreover, the commissioner noted that, in his opinion, agreements on free trade area among the EU and countries – eastern partners will promote creation of united economic area from Lisbon to Vladivostok in future.