Most Ukrainians have positive feelings about the simplification of the visa regime between Ukraine and European Union countries, as well as about Ukraine's receiving the status of an associate member of the EU, according to a survey conducted by the Kyiv-based Gorshenin Institute of Management Issues on February 20-22, 2010.
The institute conducted a phone interview of 1,000 respondents aged over 18 from all regional centers in Ukraine, and the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol. The poll’s margin of error does not exceed 3.2%.
According to the survey, 84.1% of Ukrainians have a positive attitude to the simplification of the visa regime between Ukraine and the EU, whereas 9.5% have negative feelings about this, with 6.3% of Ukrainians being undecided.
The majority of Ukrainians (72.5%) said they had positive feelings about Ukraine gaining the status of an EU associate member, whereas 16.5% had a different point of view, while 11% of respondents were undecided.
At the same time, 45.7% of those surveyed believe that relations between Ukraine and the EU will improve under the new president. Over a fourth of Ukrainians (29.5%) think that relations will remain unchanged, 13.5% expressed concern that relations between Ukraine and the EU would worsen, and 11.2% were undecided.
In addition, 48.7% of Ukrainians described current relations between Ukraine and the EU as neutral, 24% think that EU-Ukraine relations are friendly, 18.3% described them as unfriendly, and 9% of respondents were undecided.
