A debate is unfolding on the European Union’s future against the background of the historic Athens summit, where ten countries affixed their signatures to an EU membership agreement. Nobody doubts today that enlargement will cost the European Union not just much but very much expense, time, and effort. Yet, there are differing views of how exactly the “enlarged Europe” will look. A vision of this issue was presented by deputy director of the Paris-based International Studies Center, Christian Lequesne, in the lecture he delivered at the Taras Shevchenko National University’s Institute of International Relations as part of a series of debates organized by the Embassy of France to Ukraine and the Center for European and International Studies. The French researcher has kindly agreed to answer The Day correspondent’s questions.
“Who exactly will be making the decision on the European Union’s future eastern border?”
“First, I’m not at all sure the European Union will assume this responsibility. It may be forced to do so, but I do not know if it will have enough courage for this. If such a decision is to be made, a special conference will be convened to adopt amendments to the Constitutional Agreement. This will be not just a diplomatic decision but one that will become a major worldwide event.”
“Does Russia have any chance to join the European Union at a certain time?”
“I don’t feel that Russia wants to do so. The impression is that Russia considers itself a self-sufficient country. The main requirement for EU membership is a country’s self-identification as a nation state. But Russia views itself as an empire. What that country regards as a great drama is not so much the fall of communism as the collapse of an empire.”
“To what extent could Ukraine’s participation in Russian dominated integration associations hinder the Ukraine’s aspirations to integrate with Europe?”
“As soon as you are an EU member, you cannot have any privileges in your bilateral relations with a third country. This applies to Poland which used to have privileged trade relations with Belarus and Ukraine: now that it has joined the EU, it has to drop them. The same will apply to Ukraine or any other CIS country if it ever chooses to become a European Union member.”
“What do you think causes the European Union to look at Ukraine in a way we would not like it to? Is it the idea that we are still an appendage of Russia, that we have not yet chosen a clear strategic plan, or some other reasons?”
“I am aware of Ukraine’s painful reaction to some EU program documents, but I can say that you should not consider it an insult that most EU members want to put Ukraine in the same basket with, say, Morocco. In my opinion, which, incidentally, coincides with that of most Western experts, Ukraine is still more attractive for the EU and may one day become a candidate member. But the West has mixed feelings about your country because [your country] has the image of one who does not know what it wants and where to go. We often receive contradictory information from your country. In reality, we would be interested to have authentic unbiased information on grassroots opinion. What your elite says we know more or less well. We still receive too little information on the aspirations of ordinary people, their attitudes toward Russia and the EU, to have a completely clear picture of what Ukraine is and will be in future.”
