KIEV, July 13 - Presidential Secretariat Deputy Chairman Oleksandr Chaly has welcomed the decision of the European Parliament to grant Ukraine clear European Union membership prospects in a new agreement with the EU, but added that this was only a recommendation and the talks on this issue with the EU wouldn't be easy.

"The decision of the European Parliament is only a recommendation, and I don't foresee easy negotiations with the European bureaucrats. There is no doubt that they will take rather a conservative position, it is obvious. However, today we have such a strong ally as the European Parliament and it strictly formulates a certain mandate," he has told the Ukrainian service of the BBC.