COPENHAGEN (Denmark), July 4 – Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Thursday welcomed Ukraine’s interest in the European Union but said more reforms were needed before the former Soviet republic can join. Denmark, which holds the six-month, rotating EU presidency through December, has made the 15-nation’s bloc eastward expansion its top priority and hopes to finalize membership negotiations with 10 candidate countries in time for a December summit in Copenhagen. Ukraine shares borders with three of the EU hopefuls – Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. “Ukraine will become one of our new neighbors (after the enlargement),” Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement ahead of a summit with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma later Thursday.
The meeting in the Danish capital also will be attended by the EU executive Commission President Romano Prodi and chief of foreign and security policy, Javier Solana. Ukraine’s relationship with the EU is based on a partnership and cooperation agreement that took effect in 1998.
Kuchma has made EU membership a top priority but faces a lagging economy and insufficient legal reforms. Fogh Rasmussen said the EU welcomed Kuchma’s “clear ambitions for closer cooperation with the EU” and said the cooperation would intensify during the Danish EU presidency. However, “one precondition for success is greater momentum of reforms in Ukraine,” he said.
Following the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, Ukraine suffered a severe economic decline and chaotic transition period. Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia by a December summit are expected to be able to join the EU by 2004 if talks are completed successfully.
