Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Right now there is a nightmare in Ukraine. That is clear and indisputable. Over 2,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which is currently escalating. Living standards are plummeting dramatically and GDP fell last year by 7.5%. Significant attacks have taken place on democratic rights and the Communist Party was banned. In the west of Ukraine under the Kiev Government there has been a rise of fascist forces, including on the streets. This association agreement is part of the reason. It sums up the imperialistic and expansionist policy of the EU. It, on the one side, and Russian imperialist ambitions on the other, are responsible for the treatment of the people of Ukraine, regardless of ethnicity, simply as pawns in a great power game and their being put in an extremely difficult set of circumstances.

These association agreements reflect how the so-called European neighbourhood policy works. The policy, summed up in the European Commission's own document, is about establishing a ring of friendly countries around the EU. That means a ring of friendly countries that are not in the orbit of Russia but instead in the orbit of the EU. The entire European neighbourhood policy, both in the east and south, is about the assimilation of countries without them entering the EU. They sign up to all the new liberal rules of the EU, including free trade agreements, but do not actually get to enter the Union. They accept the dominance of the dominant capitalist classes within Europe. At the heart of the association agreements are the DCFTAs.

The European Commission states the DCFTA with Ukraine is one of the EU's most ambitious bilateral agreements yet. What does it mean to be deep and comprehensive? It means it is not just about customs tariffs, just as TTIP is not primarily about customs and tariffs. It is about a restructuring of the economy, including through the changing of procurement law, giving European multinationals access to Ukrainian public services, EU rules on intellectual property, EU rules on competition law, and driving a process of neoliberalism and austerity that is greatly embraced and already being implemented by the Ukrainian Government of the oligarchs. We should oppose and block this agreement. Instead of accepting it, there should be support for a united movement of the Ukrainian people against the rule of the oligarchs, recognising the democratic rights of all.

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