Jarosław Wałęsa, rapporteur. – Madam President, I am very grateful that we have reached the conclusions of this trialogue in such a timely fashion, because Ukraine is counting on our support. You have to remember that, while conducting profound reforms, the Government of Ukraine needs to deal with the consequences of the illegal annexation of Crimea and, at the same time, has to tackle the military conflict provoked by Russia. Moreover, the Russian authorities have imposed further restrictions on the Ukrainian economy, including the embargo on agri—food imports and the banning of transit of goods to Central Asia. This is the price the Ukrainians have to have to pay for their Euro—Atlantic aspirations.
At the same time, it was necessary for us to address the concerns of EU producers and farmers, as well as the issues which are still problematic in our relations with Ukraine: corruption. We have done all that. By granting new concessions, we want to back the ongoing reforms, strengthen small and medium enterprises and provide the necessary boost for increasing trade flows. I hope this will prove to be both economically and politically advantageous for the people of Ukraine.
I would like to thank all my shadow rapporteurs and Parliament’s Administration for all their efforts in order to proceed swiftly with this file. I would like to stress that I am very committed to continuing my work as the standing rapporteur in the International Trade Committee for Ukraine, and I am looking forward to working and helping Ukraine even more.