DISINFO: Only the EU benefits from the EU-Ukraine-Association Agreement
SUMMARY
It was the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU in 2013 that triggered the coup in the country. From the beginning, it was clear that the deal would only benefit the European side. Ukraine, in turn, did not gain access to the European market, while it lost the EAEU markets. Moreover, the country was burdened with a number of restrictions and obligations. [...]
An agreement with the EU was a kind of legacy of the Euromaidan, but today it can hardly please Ukrainian entrepreneurs struggling to survive in a hopeless crisis.
RESPONSE
This is a common narrative by pro-Kremlin media discrediting Ukraine's relations with the European Union.
The demonstrations which began in Kyiv in November 2013 – called "Maidan", or "Euromaidan" – were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with former President Yanukovych's last-minute U-turn when, after seven years of negotiation, he refused to sign the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement and halted progress towards Ukraine's closer relationship with the EU due to Russian pressure. It cannot be labelled as a coup.
In fact, Ukraine has gained much due to the Association Agreement, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), signed in 2014. Kyiv has taken on important obligations in several crucial spheres, including the economy, industry and environment protection.
The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area has supported the increase of bilateral trade between the EU and Ukraine , which has grown continuously since it provisional application in January 2016 and reached € 43.3 billion in 2019. 40% of Ukraine’s trade is now with the EU.
Since 2014, the EU and the Financial Institutions have mobilised more than €15 billion in grants and loans to support the reform process, with strong conditionality on continued progress. See here for more details about EU-Ukraine relations.
Pro-Kremlin media outlets often claim that Ukraine has turned into a colony, its condition is inferior to that of EU members, and a lot of qualified specialists have left for European countries.