The signing of the Association Agreement and DCFTA between Ukraine and the European Union in 2014 was an act of strategic, geopolitical significance in the history of Ukraine and Europe itself. Emblematic of a struggle to replace a corrupt, oligarch-controlled regime at home and to resist attempts by Russia to deny Ukraine its ‘European choice’, the Association Agreement is a defiant statement of the country’s determination to become a democratic, independent state.

The purpose of the Handbook is to make the content of this complex treaty clearly comprehensible. The first edition of this book has become an acknowledged ‘bible’ for all practitioners and scholars engaged in east European affairs.

This second edition carries the story forward, with a systematic assessment of the achievements and problems that implementation of the treaty has been witnessing over the subsequent years.

Michael Emerson is Associate Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels.

Veronika Movchan is Academic Director at the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER), Kyiv.