EU bid backed at summit, but delays expected after Irish Lisbon ‘no vote’
July 16, 2008 at 18:46 | Staff reportsannual Yalta European Strategy (YES) summit. Highprofile statements from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU presidency, exBritish Premier Tony Blair and former Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski, supporting Ukraine’s EU bid drew the most attention at the summit.
But politicians, experts and EU officials were more cautious in private conversations, conceding that Ukraine’s EU bid — and upcoming talks on free trade and visa liberalization — were likely to face further delays after an Irish ‘no vote’ on the Lisbon treaty held in June. The failed referendum to streamline the EU plunged Brussels into disarray, raising questions about the union’s internal politics, future, and thereby postponing further expansion, one EU source said.
YES was founded in 2004 by Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk, soninlaw to exPresident Leonid Kuchma, to bring together highlevel participants in Ukraine and internationally develop a strategy for and support Ukraine’s EU bid. More than 160 politicians, businessmen, experts, diplomats and journalists from more than 20 countries took part in this year’s 5th annual summit. High profile participants also included Karl Rove, the former strategist of outgoing US president George W. Bush, his Democratic counterpart Bob Shrum, and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk, National Security Chief Raisa Bogateryova and Deputy Prime Minister Hryhory Nemyria.
This year’s summit was, in line with tradition, held in Yalta’s Livadia Place, where a post WWII Europe was divided up by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Blair, who followed in the footsteps of U.S. President Bill Clinton, the main guest speaker at last year’s summit, expressed strong support for Ukraine’s EU bid in the context of a speech that called upon world leaders to choose a policy of openness. Conceding that the center of gravity in the modern world was shifting more and more to the East, Blair called for the EU to serve as a model for openness.
“We have to be open and not close ourselves in our shells. In such a manner, the European Union has to become the symbol of this European policy,” he said, adding that the speed of Ukraine’s EU integration bid would be largely defined by the country’s ability to demonstrate its attitude and readiness. If Ukraine succeeds in this endeavor, Brussels will itself call for Ukraine to join, he added.
“It is not only Ukraine that needs Europe. Europe needs Ukraine as well,” Blair said, referring to Ukraine’s potential as energy transit country, vast market for goods, supplier of agriculture commodities and food.
In a statement, Sarkozy said his country would push hard while chairing the EU presidency to support Ukraine’s EU integration drive.
“Ukraine is a country of strategic importance to Europe. From the very moment of assuming office, I have wanted to be the advocate of a special relationship between the European Union and Ukraine. For several months, France has been pleading the case before its partners in the European Union and the European Commission for negotiations on a new, strengthened agreement between the Union and Ukraine with the aim of reaching the most ambitious result,” Sarkozy said. “It is our ardent hope that, on the occasion of the Evian Summit meeting on Sept. 9, the [EU] and Ukraine will be able to conclude a historic political agreement,” which will strengthen ties in many areas, foremost by establishing a free trade agreement and liberalizing visa rules, he added.
Yet responding to what he described as hype, one EU official described Sarkozy’s strong words as overlyoptimistic words of false hope given the confused state of affairs in Brussels after Ireland’s failed referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, aimed to streamline the workings of the EU.
Without going into specifics, exPolish President Kwasniewski said Ukraine would have a major chance to make a leap towards EU membership in 2011, when his country, a major ally of Ukraine’s Western integration drive, chairs the EU presidency.
Alexander Rahr, Program Director at the German Council on Foreign Relations, was more cautious, saying that if Ukraine gets its act together, it could have a chance to join the EU in 2020.