BRUSSELS. Dec 16 (Interfax) - The European Union remains in talks with Ukraine in seeking to persuade the country to go ahead with signing the planned association agreement with the EU, but Ukraine has still made no commitments concerning the signature of the accord, a European Commission spokesman said on Monday.
Peter Stano, spokesman for the European commissioner for enlargement and European neighborhood policy, Stefan Fule, told a briefing in Brussels that Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov stated no clear position during a recent meeting with Fule.
Fule explained to Arbuzov that Ukraine would still have some hurdles to overcome if it committed itself to signing the pact, Stano said.
The spokesman in effect ruled out that the EU would agree to any changes to the text of the draft agreement, which was initialed for the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, late last month, where Ukraine was expected to sign the accord.
Stano said the issue today is what needs to be done for Ukraine to sign the agreement.