On Tuesday 6 February, the Troika of the European Union travelled to Kiev for a third-country meeting with Ukraine. Headed by the current President of the EU Council, Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the delegation also included Helga Schmid representing the Council Secretariat and the head of the EU Commission delegation in Kiev. The EU Troika was received in Kiev by Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the acting Foreign Minister Volodomyr Ohryzko.
The meeting signalled the start of negotiations on an enhanced cooperation agreement between the European Union and Ukraine. Federal Minister Steinmeier called it a "good day for relations between the EU and Ukraine", saying that these relations should be "intensified and extended". The focus of the agreement is to be a comprehensive free trade zone, subject to Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization expected to take place in the middle of the year. Federal Minister Steinmeier also spoke of justice and foreign and security policy as areas in which cooperation could be significantly extended. Technical negotiations on the agreement are to begin on 8 March. They should be completed within a "reasonable time-frame", said Federal Minister Steinmeier.
In response to Prime Minister Yanukovych's disappointment at the lack of a concrete EU accession perspective for Ukraine, Federal Minister Steinmeier referred to the ongoing reform process within the European Union. He said that the German Presidency hoped to make some progress in this respect.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yanukovych announced reforms which would bring his country closer to European standards. The rate of Ukraine's rapprochement to the EU would depend not least on the country itself. Federal Minister Steinmeier reiterated Europe's interest in a "democratic and economically prosperous Ukraine committed to the rule of law".
