PARIS
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the European Union was not ready to open its doors to Ukraine.
"We believe that Ukraine has a place in Europe, but it has to maintain good ties both with EU and Russia," Fabius told private broadcaster I Tele on Sunday.
On Saturday, Ukraine's new President Petro Proshenko announced that he would sign the economic portion of a wider integration deal with EU as a first step towards full membership.
Fabius said his EU counterparts agreed with him that the union was not ready to integrate Ukraine.
Mass anti-government protests that led to political crisis in Ukraine broke out in November 2013 after former President Viktor Yanukovych ditched a trade pact with the European Union in favor of seeking closer ties with Moscow.
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