You're reading: Poll: Euro 2012 guests saw similarity of Ukrainians with Europeans

Most citizens of EU countries who visited Ukraine during Euro 2012 believe that the main obstacles to Ukraine's accession to the EU are a bad economic situation, corruption in government and the presence of political prisoners, according to a survey entitled "The First Euro Exit Poll" conducted by GfK at the request of the Institute of World Policy.

The study surveyed 1,048 respondents who arrived in Ukraine from EU countries.

Some 43.34% of the surveyed EU citizens believe that the economic
situation is the main obstacle to Ukraine’s possible membership of the
EU, 40.23% believe that it is corruption in government and 38.81% – the
presence of political prisoners.

According to EU citizens, the most European-style people in Ukraine
are ordinary members of the public, and the least are the country’s
leaders.

“Such an obstacle, according to European fans, also applies to the
improvement of the image of Ukraine in Europe in general,” the study
said.

In particular, more than half of respondents believe that in order to
improve the image of Ukraine in the EU, first and foremost, it is
necessary to overcome corruption, and less than half believe that it is
necessary to improve the quality of life in the country in general,
while a third of respondents believe that Ukraine should release its
political prisoners.

Some 32.73% of respondents said that the imprisonment of former Prime
Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had not influenced their perception of
Ukraine, while 23.19% said that the case of the ex-premier had worsened
their attitude towards Ukraine. Moreover, almost 40% of respondents
noted that they do not agree with a Ukrainian court ruling on
Tymoshenko’s imprisonment and consider her a political prisoner. Some
20.32% of Europeans said that they did not know enough about this case,
and 9.45% asked: “Who is Yulia Tymoshenko?”