When presented with a choice between the East and the West, Ukrainians really are torn. Sociological polls consistently show that they're split almost in half, with a slight prevalence of positive opinion toward the West.
In a
recent poll by Gorshenin Institute, a political consultancy, 2,000
respondents were asked to make a civilization choice. Just under 42
percent chose integration with the European Union, while 34.7
were in favor of integrating
with the Customs Union, a trade block of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Another
15 percent of people said they opposed integration with
both entities.
The
poll was conducted in
March, and its margin
of error does not exceed 2.2 percent.
Its results
were released last week, and almost coincided with the signing on May
31 of a cooperations memorandum between Ukraine and the Customs
Union, which gives the nation an observer status in the organization.
The new
status allows Ukrainian delegations to be present at internal
meetings of the block and gives access to its documents, with no
right to vote.
At the same
time, Ukraine is hoping to sign a landmark Association Agreement with the EU this fall that would give the nation an unprecedented level of
integration with the EU for a non-member state.
Viktor
Sokolov, vice president of the
Gorshening Institute,
said Ukrainians are rather pragmatic and conservative in their
attitude to
both international blocks. “Ukrainians are ready for cultural
exchange, visa-free movements, joint customs area, but they don’t
want closer
forms of cooperation,” he said.
The
number of those willing to have a
joint army or
government
was less than 10 percent among both the supporters of integration
with the EU and Customs Union, the poll shows.
Sokolov
also said that many people choose
the Russia-led
trade block because
the member nations are
familiar to Ukraine. They were all a part of the Soviet Union until
Ukraine gained independence in 1991.
At the same time, the
knowledge about the European block is
minimal in Ukraine.
Almost
three-quarters
of Ukrainians
say they have never
traveled to western nations,
such as the EU, the United States or Canada, the poll reveals.
“They
just don’t imagine what the European Union is,” Sokolov said. At
the same time, the
number of people
willing to have a
visa-free regime with
the EU stands
over 88 percent, the poll shows.
Sokolov
added that EU integration is
widely supported in western
Ukraine and among young people, while proponents
of the Customs Union live mostly in the south-eastern regions, or belong
to the
senior age group.
Kyiv Post
staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at
[email protected]
