Better luck next time, Ukraine.
One of these days the EU powers that be are going to realise that when you’ve got countries torn between a European and non-European identity, to keep on telling them “sorry, you’re not European enough yet” is just going to drive them into the other camp.
How much longer are the likes of Ukraine and Turkey going to put up with these repeated, very public rejections before heading off to the waiting embrace of Moscow or non-secular Islamism?
If I were a westwards-looking Ukrainian, I’d be getting very pissed off about now:
Ukraine will have to make do with an “association agreement” with the EU, a pact that for Balkan countries such as Albania, Macedonia and Serbia represents the first step on the path to membership, but for Ukraine carries no such implications
So Ukraine’s less welcome than tiny Albania and Macedonia? Less welcome than Serbia, a country built on a genocidal civil war and still in dispute with much of the EU over the status of Kosovo?
Yeah, cheers for that. Really encouraging. Nice one.
The promise of future EU membership can be a force for good, inspiring positive shifts towards greater democratic freedoms. But the promise has to be made. Taking a carrot and stick approach is a tried-and-tested method for getting people to do what you want – and that goes for countries too. Yet in the case of Ukraine, the EU’s carrot would appear to be largely imaginary – while at the same time, Ukrainians know that Russia has both stick and carrot, and isn’t afraid to use either.
September 24th, 2008 at 6:13 am
Actually, bonehead, Ukraine is a gangster-run country dominated by oligarchs. It is not a democratic country — that’s for sure. It is run by a group of billionaire criminals who have total immunity — even in cases of murder — as members of parliament. Don’t even equate this country with Macedonia, Serbia or Albania. Those are countries that really deserve some hope.
October 1st, 2008 at 11:15 am
You are completely right when desiring the EU to declare “fair” in the sense of predictable conditions for a possible membership of the Ukraine. The actual discussion shows again (as in almost every enlargement question) a deeply divided Union including some countries like Sweden or Poland in favour of an Ukrainian membership and other countries like Germany or Italy taking a different, more distant position.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:03 am
‘…Serbia, a country built on a genocidal civil war…’
What the heck? This shows how much you know about Serbia. yes there was a war, but Serbia was not built out of it… Your frustrations should be directed towards someone else.