EU cautious on integrating Ukraine-BBC story

[pampango]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8394765.stm

"The EU has reviewed Ukraine's slow progress towards integration with the 27-nation bloc at a summit in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The Ukrainian government wants a long-promised free trade deal, and easier access to visas for its citizens. But a Russia-Ukraine dispute over gas prices in January was disastrous for Ukraine's image in Brussels. "

"In the wake of the war in Georgia in the summer of 2008, Ukraine and the EU announced they were working towards an association agreement, which was expected to be signed by the end of this year.

But on Friday there was no such agreement to sign. Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, the EU's top official in Ukraine, said the government in Kiev had simply not kept its side of the bargain, and that very little progress had been made in the areas where the EU wants Ukraine to reform.

"In particular in creating an environment to start reducing corruption; red tape; administrative burdens of all kinds in terms of the business in Ukraine, of attracting investment. There are a number of issues that indicate that in fact very little progress has been achieved.""
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I know the EU always insists that aspiring member countries undertake a lot of reforms, in areas like reducing corruption, ensuring the rule of law, budgetary reforms, market reform, etc. While Ukraine seems to want into the EU, it has not undertaken any of the reforms that countries like Poland, Romania and Bulgaria completed before joining the EU.