BRUSSELS (Agencies) -- The European Union (EU) said that it welcomes the agreement reached by Ukrainian political rivals and hopes to see necessary reforms in the country now for its accession to the EU, Xinhua reported.

"This negotiated compromise makes everyone a winner," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and rival Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych on Sunday agreed to hold parliamentary elections on Sept. 30, putting an end to a political crisis that could have eventually led to violence.

Solana said that he hoped the agreement would now allow the former Soviet nation to engage in reforms necessary for it to join the EU.

"Now is the time for everyone in Ukraine to focus on implementing the necessary reforms. The European Union is very committed to this partnership, the quality of which depends on the quality of Ukraine's democracy and reforms," Solana said.

Germany, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, said that it would maintain close ties with all sides in Ukraine in an effort to help implement the agreement.

The agreement came after lengthy negotiations between the two sides, which dragged on for hours and continued well past midnight.

Ukraine's political turmoil began in April when Yushchenko signed decrees dissolving parliament and calling for early elections. Yanukovych rejected the act as unconstitutional.

The tension escalated on Saturday when 2,050 interior troops were stopped outside Kiev on the president's order to deploy troops.

"We have great news for this holy day. The political crisis in Ukraine is over," Yushchenko said as he emerged from a church service marking the Orthodox Trinity holiday, Reuters reported.

"Let me stress that we did not initiate the process of an early election. I am sure there are no economic or social grounds for an early election," Yanukovich told a news conference in parliament. "This amounts to the ambitions of specific opposition politicians whom the president is trying to please."

The president, prime minister and the speaker of parliament, who also signed the agreement, later attended Ukraine's soccer cup final between Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar of Donetsk, Yanukovich's power base.

Recent opinion polls put Yanukovich's Regions Party in the lead but data show parties backing the two rivals in a virtual dead heat, each with about 40 percent support.

"Ukraine emerges much stronger from this crisis than it was before April," Yushchenko said. "It is very gratifying for me to see that by this Ukraine is demonstrating the development of its democracy. This is truly a wonderful result."

Several hundred flag-waving supporters of both leaders held competing rallies in front of the presidential office where Yushchenko and Yanukovych were meeting. A thin line of police separated the two camps of protesters, AP reported.

Ukraine has been torn since then between centuries of links with Russia and Yushchenko's drive towards NATO and European Union membership. Russia lies to the east but Ukraine also has borders with EU members Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.