Ukraine and the European Union
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Ukrainian membership in the European Union was declared a strategic goal of President Viktor Yushchenko's foreign policy since his election as president in 2004.
Yushchenko's electoral support is concentrated mainly in the Ukrainian-speaking regions of the north, west, and central parts of Ukraine, where the desire for links with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are stronger than in the Russian-speaking eastern regions.
The Presidential Secretariat of Ukraine has set 2017 as the target year for Ukraine's entry into EU. Ukraine is, however, only a member of the European Neighbourhood Policy and the issue of eventual EU membership still remains unclear as the EU's enlargement agenda is already full and some Western European member states are resisting any further expansion.[1]
Talks on a free trade agreement between Ukraine and the European Union started on February 18, 2008 between President Yushchenko and the European Commissioner Peter Mandelson.[2]
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[edit] Ukrainian policy and politics
Currently, most political factions in Ukraine advocate joining the EU and developing closer ties with Western Europe.
The Orange Revolution of late 2004 improved Ukraine's European prospects; the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko hinted that he would press the EU for deeper ties and described a four-point plan: acknowledgment of Ukraine as a market economy, entry in the World Trade Organization, associate membership in the European Union, and, finally, full membership.[3] The Ukrainian government has also asked Brussels for a clearer indication of Ukraine's prospects for membership, saying that "The approved Action Plan reflects only the level of Ukraine-EU relations that we could have reached before the presidential elections in 2004."[4]
[edit] European policy and politics
However, some in the EU are doubtful concerning Ukraine's potential for membership. In 2002, EU Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen said that "a European perspective" for Ukraine does not necessarily mean membership within 10 to 20 years; however, it is a possibility.
On January 13, 2005, the European Parliament almost unanimously (467 votes to 19 in favor) passed a motion stating the wish of the European Parliament to establish closer ties with Ukraine in view of the possibility of EU membership. Though there is still a long way to go before negotiations about EU membership can start, the European Commission has stated that future EU membership will not be ruled out. Yushchenko has responded to the apathetic mood of the Commission by stating that he intends to send an application for EU membership "in the near future" and that he intends to scrutinize Ukraine's relationship with the Commonwealth of Independent States in order to assure that EU integration is possible, and, if not, to make it possible. Several EU leaders have already stated strong support for closer economic ties with Ukraine, but have stopped short of direct support for such a bid.
On March 21, 2005, Polish Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld noted that Poland will, in every way, promote Ukraine's desire to be integrated with the EU, achieve the status of a market-economy country, and join the World Trade Organization. He also said, "At the present moment, we should talk concrete steps in cooperation instead of engaging in empty talk about European integration". Three days later, a poll of the six largest EU nations conducted by a French research company showed that the European public would be more likely to accept Ukraine as a future EU member than any other country that is not currently an official candidate.
In October 2005, Commission president José Manuel Barroso said that the future of Ukraine is in the EU. On November 9, 2005, however, the European Commission in a new strategy paper suggested that the current enlargement agenda (Croatia and in the future the other ex-Yugoslavian countries) could block the possibility of a future accession of Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, and Moldova. Commissioner Olli Rehn said that the EU should avoid overexpansion, adding that the current enlargement agenda is already quite full.[5]
Attempts to change the French constitution to remove the compulsory referendum on all EU accessions after Croatia resulted in a new clause requiring compulsory referendums on the accession of all countries with a population of more than 5% of the EU's total population; this clause would apply to Ukraine and Turkey.[6]
[edit] Milestones
A Ukraine-EU Troika meeting in April 2004, on the eve of the newest wave of expansion, dealt a blow to Ukraine's European aspirations when the EU ministers failed to grant market economy status to Ukraine; however, this was before the Orange Revolution occurred there.
For the time being, Ukraine will most likely develop intermediate relations with the EU, as it is strongly backed by all major political forces in Poland, an EU member with strong historical ties with Ukraine (through the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth).
In March 2007, the EU and Ukraine started talks about a new "wider agreement," including a free trade zone and a closer relationship in the issue of energy policy between the EU and Ukraine. EU is more sceptical for an official agreement of EU-Membership of Ukraine. The commisisior for the EU Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said that the EU and Ukraine planned to have an agreement which will be based on the PCA.[7] There is planned a summit between Kyiv and Brussels under the French presidency in the latter half of 2008.[8]
[edit] See also
- Enlargement of the European Union
- Foreign relations of the European Union
- Armenia and the European Union
- Azerbaijan and the European Union
- Georgia and the European Union
- Moldova and the European Union
[edit] References
- ^ Fighting EU 'enlargement fatigue' iht.com 19/06/06
- ^ EU launches talks on free trade agreement with Ukraine - International Herald Tribune
- ^ EUobserver article (subscription only)
- ^ EUobserver article (subscription only)
- ^ EUobserver article (subscription only)
- ^ http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/french-parliament-strikes-blow-turkish-eu-bid/article-172867
- ^ EurAktiv: EU und Ukraine beginnen Kooperationsgespräche 6. März 2007 (German)
- ^ Ukraine: A lynchpin in Europe’s ‘Manifest Destiny’?
This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.
[edit] Literature
- Anatolij Ponomarenko: "Die europäische Orientierung der Ukraine: Dekret des Präsidenten der Ukraine über die Strategie der Integration der Ukraine in die Europäische Union; Partnerschaftsabkommen zwischen der EU und der Ukraine". Zentrum für Europäische Integrationsforschung, Bonn 1999. 42 S. ISBN 3-933307-39-2 (German)
- Dezseri, Kalman [ed.]: Economic and political relations after the EU enlargement : the Visegrad countries and Russia, Ukraine, Belarius and Moldov, Budapest 2004
[edit] External links
- The EU's relations with Ukraine
- The EU’s Relations with Ukraine – Present State and Future Prospects
- 'Integration without Europeanisation: Ukraine and its policy towards the European Union'
- 'Ukraine and the EU after the Orange Revolution'
- 'Will the Orange Revolution bear fruit: EU relations in 2005 and the beginning of 2006'
- YES-Ukraine Yalta European Strategy
- In Kürze: - Juschtschenko: Ukraine strebt Einleitung von EU-Beitrittsverhandlungen im Jahr 2007 an (German)
- Sascha Müller-Kraenner: Die Europäische Nachbarschaftspolitik (German)
- Ralf Wachsmuth: Außenpolitischer Kurswechsel in der Ukraine? (German)
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