"The association agreement will not be changed, it is now already being used, starting with a free trade area. In the near future, in the next few days I'm waiting for the decision from the European Commission on the transfer of a legislative proposal to the European Parliament and the EU Council on the visa-free regime, and I hope that the Ukrainians will get it," Poroshenko said.
The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, establishing a political and economic association between Kiev and Brussels, was signed in 2014. It commits Kiev to implementing vast reforms in order to meet the bloc’s high economic, political, social, legal and technical criteria. It also grants Ukraine expanded access to the EU single market.
The Netherlands is the only EU member state that has not yet ratified the agreement. The Dutch government decided to hold a non-binding referendum after over 400,000 people signed a petition to put the matter to a nationwide vote.
Official referendum results are expected on Tuesday, April 12.
