Early this week, American president, Barack Obama threatened Russia with further sanctions unless it took the necessary steps to reduce tension in the east of Ukraine, where it is suspected to have intervened. Previously, Russia had warned that it would adopt protection measures if the association agreements to be signed on Friday between the EU and Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, affected its economy.<\/p>\n
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The Republic of Moldova and Georgia will sign association and extensive free trade agreements with the EU while Ukraine will only sign the economic chapters of the agreement, given that the political chapters had already been signed several months before.<\/p>\n
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In Moscow, these documents are seen as a ploy by which the three states will come out of its sphere of influence. In Brussels, however, these extremely ambitious agreements are considered historic. Here is the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso:<\/p>\n
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\u201cFor the EU, these signatures will be a solemn commitment to accompany Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine each step of the way along the road of transforming their countries into stable, prosperous democracies. The Agreements, the most ambitious negotiated so far by the European Union, aim to deepen political and economic relations with the EU and to gradually integrate these three countries in the EUs Internal Market, the largest single market in the world. It is also important to recall once more that these Agreements are for something, not against anyone. We are not seeking an exclusive relationship with these three partners. We believe in open societies and open economies.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In the majority Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova, the pro-western government in Chisinau sees the signing of the association agreement with the European Union as a great achievement, believing it is in the nation\u2019s best interest to consolidate its relationship with the Union.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia will sign historic association agreements with the European Union on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":55317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[37806,33203,28930,28920,28905],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-55316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-eu-association-agreement","tag-free-trade-agreement","tag-georgia","tag-the-republic-of-moldova","tag-ukraine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n