France to Ratify Association Agreement With Ukraine in Few Months

French President Francois Hollande said that the voting procedures on Ukraine-EU association agreement will be held in the next few months, and the agreement will be ratified.

PARIS (Sputnik) — France will ratify Ukraine-EU association agreement in the next few months, President Francois Hollande said Wednesday following talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Paris.

Poroshenko arrived in France on an official visit earlier on Wednesday.

"President Poroshenko has met with lawmakers from both houses of [French] parliament and discussed the issue of Ukraine-EU association agreement," Hollande said at a joint press conference with Poroshenko.

"The voting procedures on this issue will be held in the next few months, and this agreement will be ratified," Hollande said.

The French president also announced that Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will visit France on May 13.

A decision against signing the Association Agreement with the European Union in 2013 by the Ukrainian president at the time, Viktor Yanukovych, provoked a coup in February 2014, ousting him from the country.

The EU association deal was then signed by the new government, but the establishment of a free trade area, embedded into the agreement, was suspended until 2016 following talks between Russia, Ukraine and the European Union.

Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern that the agreement could result in an uncontrolled flow of non-regulated goods from the European Union to the Russian market.

Last month, Russian Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukayev said that if Moscow's concerns are not taken into account, Russia would have to take protective measures, including driving up customs tariffs on Ukrainian goods.