You're reading: Herman Van Rompuy: Ukraine’s future belongs with EU

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has said that the offer of closer cooperation between the EU and Ukraine still stands.

“The offer is still there. And we know time is on our side. The future of Ukraine belongs with the European Union,” he said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

Rompuy said that during their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier last week, he and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso answered his concerns about the impact on Russia of closer economic ties between Ukraine and Europe.

“We also pressed the point of the rights of independent countries; the same goes for Moldova and Georgia,” the European Council president said.

“Some people think Europeans are naïve; that we prefer carrots over sticks. Now, I am not saying that we cannot sometimes play our hand more strongly. But surely it is a bad idea to let foul play undercut the very values that constitute our power of attraction in the first place – a power of attraction that brought down the Berlin Wall. Our biggest carrot is a way of life; our biggest stick: a closed door,” he said.

He recalled that Brussels offered Ukraine a closer association with the European Union on certain terms. At the same time there was no demand on the country to spoil its relations with its eastern neighbor, “with which it shares a history and culture.”

At the same time, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the Munich Security Conference that Ukraine should choose its own path of development without interference from foreign countries.

“Ukraine must have the freedom to choose its own path without extra pressure,” he said.