BRUSSELS, Dec. 1 – Kiev may apply for membership of the European Union, provided it adheres to the principles of democracy, and an EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is an instrument for achieving this goal, according to the European Parliament.

The European Parliament believes that the Association Agreement needs to be initialed by the end of 2011 if possible, so that it could be ratified by parliaments by the end of 2012 provided that Ukraine complies with the democratic principles and the other demands set out in the European Parliament's resolution dated October 27 2011.