The Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine is not good for the Ukrainian economy. Only a handful of large companies will benefit from it and to the detriment of the vast majority, say Ukrainian researchers.
The left-wing think tank Transnational Institute, which received funding for a 'no' campaign, a Ukrainian research center in Kiev did investigate the possible implications of the agreement for the Ukrainian economy. The results are today published (.pdf) .
European standards
The European Association Agreement aims to facilitate trade between between Europe and Ukraine, but the researchers say that the Ukrainian industry has far too little money and resources to produce in accordance with European standards. Many Ukrainian companies will go bankrupt as a result, the prediction.
Through the agreement, the Ukrainian economy will be mainly dependent on the export of unprocessed raw materials and cheap agricultural products to the EU. That is much less than trade with Russia, which has dramatically shrunk the political tensions between the countries.
Cheap production platform
The researchers expect that the agreement will lead to an increase in employment in Ukraine, but this will be particularly poor. Highly educated staff will still attract more to the EU than it already is. Is currently about a quarter of Ukrainians abroad.
The association agreement means that the Ukrainian economy will be taken over by other countries, says the research center. The country will eventually only be a cheap production platform for European companies.
http://nos.nl/ editorial NOS Photo: Reuters
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