BRUSSELS, Feb. 25 - The European Union gave Ukraine three months to improve its judicial and election systems and to adopt reforms to qualify for a key free-trade and political association agreement this year.

The failure to meet the deadline in May would most likely postpone the agreement for years, seriously complicating the country’s chances of reforming its economy and achieving robust economic growth.

The deadline was given to President Viktor Yanukovych at the EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels on Monday. Yanukovych spent more than two hours in talks with European leaders behind closed doors.

Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said that the EU needed to see “determined action” by Ukraine “by the latest by May this year” if the association agreement were to be signed “by the time” of the Eastern Partnership summit in November.

The May deadline was chosen because some time would be needed after that to tie up any loose ends if an agreement is to be signed in November.

The EU postponed the agreement last year after former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was jailed in a case many in the bloc see as politically motivated. Yanukovych has pledged to resolve the issue, though prosecutors threatened last month to imprison her for life for alleged murder.

EU leaders also made clear Ukraine had to make a choice as membership of the EU's free trade agreement was incompatible with belonging to Moscow's Customs Union.

"What we have to be clear about is one country cannot at the same time be a member of a customs union and be in a free trade area with the European Union. This is not possible," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, Reuters reported.

"But I believe there are some pragmatic ways to address this issue."

The European Union also signed an outline agreement on Monday to provide Ukraine with up to 610 million euros ($803 million) in "macro-financial assistance", but made it conditional on Ukraine meeting International Monetary Fund terms. It did not specify whether the money would be a loan or a grant.

Ukraine's relationship with the IMF is potentially complicated by Yanukovych's pledge to keep down gas prices for domestic customers as the IMF has insisted Ukraine should reduce the amount it spends on subsidizing prices to cut its budget deficit.

Ukraine, which resumes talks with the IMF next month on a third bailout since 2008, faces a shrinking economy and $10 billion of debt payments scheduled this year. The economy is in a recession after contracting 0.9% in the fourth quarter.

Yanukovych, who said he was “on the whole...satisfied with the outcome” of the summit, said that “special attention” had been paid to the issue of visas for Ukrainians.

Barroso said that he hoped that an agreement on easing visa restrictions on particular groups would be agreed in the first half of this year. A separate, broader process could eventually lead to all visa restrictions being removed. The EU is currently assessing whether Ukraine has taken legislative steps that it has demanded. These would then need to be implemented. (tl/rt/ez)