Jan Zelenka, professor at St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, believes that today the European Union is riddled with tensions and is far from the ideals and ambitious goals that underlie it. And EU leaders lack ideas for real solutions.
The EU Ukraine Association Agreement is both a challenge and a great opportunity for Kiev. Already now, trade relations have expanded and delivery of goods from Europe to Ukraine has become easier, especially the supply of portable electronics and accessories from Poland. For Ukraine, first of all, there is an opportunity for a long-term perspective for agriculture.
The question arises: is Ukraine trying to revive the agricultural sector or turn the economy into an agro-industrial one? The share of agriculture in Ukraine's total exports increased from 27.3% in 2013 to almost 37% in 2015. For many products, such as beef, pork, EU markets remain inaccessible to Ukrainian producers due to problems related to non-compliance with the SPS.
In general, Ukrainian producers use about 50% of export opportunities, in addition, there are limiting quotas. For wheat, a quota of 950 thousand tons has been set, with a total export volume of Ukrainian wheat of 12.06 million tons in 2015, including 1.63 million tons of exports to the EU. Obviously, DCFTA quotas seriously limit its potential.
A similar situation has been observed throughout the history of integration with the EU: the integration model presupposes the monopoly of nation states. Because nation states fulfill the interests of their voters. Despite the fact that Angela Merkel is truly a pro-European leader, she answers primarily to the German voters. All decisions, even if they are in the interests of the EU, represented primarily the interests of Germany.
