BRUSSELS, Sept. 12 - European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule said that the Association Agreement and the creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area are compatible with observer status in the Customs Union of the CIS countries.

"It may certainly be possible for members of the Eastern Partnership to increase their cooperation with the Customs Union, perhaps as observers; and participation in a DCFTA is of course fully compatible with our partners' existing free trade agreements with other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) states," Fule said in Strasbourg on Wednesday, while discussing in the European Parliament the issue of the pressure exercises by Russia on the Eastern Partnership countries due to the signing of the Association Agreement.