BRUSSELS, September 29. /ITAR-TASS/. The Council of the European Union on Monday delayed the application of a deep and comprehensive free-trade agreement (DCFTA) with Ukraine by 15 months to December 31, 2015, the press service said.

The official statement of both the EU Council and the European Commission stresses that this is a bilateral EU-Ukraine agreement and “any adaptations to it can only be made at the request of one of the parties and with the agreement of the other, according to the mechanisms foreseen in the text and in compliance with international law and with the respective internal procedures of the parties.”

The joint statement underlines “the importance for all parties to strictly abide by their commitments therein.”

Kiev should “continue the process of envisaged reforms and economic modernization, in accordance with its international commitments and with EU support and monitoring,” it says. The Council and the Commission “look forward to a swift completion of the ratification by all Member States,” the statement says.

Postponing the implementation of Ukraine-EU AA

At the September 12 ministerial meeting between Russia, the EU and Ukraine in Brussels, the sides reached an agreement to partially postpone the application of Ukraine’s Association Agreement (AA) with the EU.

Russia’s Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulukayev told journalists after the talks that the parties had admitted that the problems over the implementation of the AA that Russia had spoken about were real.

“The sides agreed that it would take time to clarify these issues, that is why the implementation of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union after its ratification would be postponed till the end of 2015, till December 31, 2015,” Ulyukayev said, adding that the sides would have 15 months to reach a compromise on that issue.

On September 16, the European Parliament ratified the Association Agreement with Ukraine. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved the Agreement on the same day. It was originally planned that the trade rules provided for in the agreement will come into force from November.