The fifth president and leader of the European Solidarity party, Petro Poroshenko, told Ukrayinska Pravda that one of the most difficult negotiation marathons during his term was the ratification process of the Association Agreement with the European Union. Poroshenko emphasized that it was a European dream for Ukraine, so the responsibility was extremely high.
“Any negotiation is difficult. There are simply no easy negotiations. A rigorous path of preparation and internal mobilization, of both negotiators and the authorities, in general, always leads to making the right contacts, especially at the highest level. This is a matter of stating national interests and arguments for the position of our state. At the same time, it is also about compromise and, of course, fulfilment of the agreements reached as a result of negotiations,” Poroshenko said.
“The most difficult experience for me was the negotiations with the Netherlands. Remember how much trouble the consultative referendum made for us with this truly friendly country for us in 2016? The future of the Association Agreement with the European Union balanced between “to be or not to be”. It hung on by a hair,” Petro Poroshenko reminded.
“Then, for a long time, I had many talks with the Netherlands and with friends in Brussels and other EU capitals to find a formula that would not allow us to not deprive our country, Ukrainians, of the dream of a European outlook. And we succeeded, because we acted boldly, persistently, firmly and strategically. Votes for ratification in the Netherlands were collected throughout Europe,” Poroshenko said.
“Realizing that someone may wonder why these negotiations were the most difficult for me, and not, for example, the 18-hour negotiation marathon on the Minsk agreements in 2015, I will state: this was the most difficult, because it was for our European dream. The occupied territories can be returned. However, it is impossible to deprive our nation of its dream, its faith in the future, our strategic vision of the state. I clearly understood what was at stake during those negotiations. And this understanding, the highest level of responsibility was the most difficult,” Poroshenko explained.
“The worst talks have always been with Putin, because you always understand – no matter what you say, this man has no faith in fulfilling the agreement. We see confirmation of this today, when the agreements on a set of Minsk measures remain unfulfilled on the part of Russia. The Kremlin continues to fire on us, continues to occupy our territories, and shifts the goalposts of the problematic issues in the peace process,” the fifth president said.
“Our team has never stooped to something like that, nothing comes easy. We have never allowed ourselves to make public claims against our partners, but we have won everything we have professionally through complex internal reforms, difficult external negotiations and diplomatic combinations.”
“This was the case with the Association Agreement, this was the case with visa-free travel , this was the case with the Tomos , this was the case with the sanctions policy against Russia. We were firm, we gritted our teeth, and we agreed. And we produced results, because we knew how to work professionally,” Poroshenko summed up.