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EU rules out Ukraine entry
December 10, 2004 23:13:04
The Times (London)
December 10, 2004, Friday
EU rules out Ukraine entry
by Anthony Browne Brussels Correspondent
HUNDREDS of thousands of Ukrainians have braved the snows of Kiev for
two weeks to demand their right to join the West. But their country
faces a certain rebuff by the European Union.
Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-Western presidential candidate, said in an
American newspaper interview yesterday that EU membership would be
his top priority if he were elected on December 26.
In Brussels, however, the European Commission said: "Our position has
not changed.
Membership is not on the agenda." Instead, the commission announced a
partnership plan for greater co-operation with Ukraine to boost ties
with its closest neighbours once it holds free and fair elections.
Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, who takes up the
EU's rotating presidency next month, said: "I can only warn against
offering Ukraine the prospect of full membership. We need a special
relationship with Ukraine that does justice to its strategic
importance."
Ukraine's possible membership is an acutely awkward subject for
European leaders.
"We just try to avoid the question when asked. The fact that Ukraine
never applied has made the decision easier but now it is far more
difficult," said an EU diplomat. Although keen to support democracy
in the largest country wholly in Europe, EU leaders are concerned
that the bloc's inability to say no to potential members means that
it is growing too big to control.
The EU has just expanded to 25 members by accepting ten mainly poor
Eastern European countries, among them Poland and Hungary. Bulgaria
and Romania are joining in 2007, and Turkey, almost entirely in Asia,
is already on track to become the biggest, and poorest, member in
about another ten years. The Balkan states, such as Croatia and
Macedonia, have also been accepted as potential members.
Many politicians fear that the EU simply will not be able to cope
with another country as poor, large and chaotic as Ukraine. Allowing
Ukraine in would also open the door for other countries such as
Belarus, Moldova, Georgia (which recently said that it wanted to
join), Azerbaijan and Armenia, bringing the total to nearly 40
countries.
To control its expansion, the EU set an arbitrary official limit that
its eastern border would be the western border of the former USSR,
with the exception of the three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania
and Estonia. Romano Prodi, the former President of the European
Commission, said that Ukraine was as likely as New Zealand to become
a member. But if Mr Yushchenko wins the election on December 26, the
EU will probably be faced with irresistible pressure to let Ukraine
join.
The new Eastern European states, three of which have a border with
Ukraine, are keen to curb instability on their doorstep by letting
Ukraine in. An East European diplomat said: "We should not cut it
off. People are asking, 'If Turkey can join, why not Ukraine?' It is
clearly much closer to Europe."
The British Government, which has always been a strong supporter of
enlargement and is Turkey's main backer, is noncommittal on Ukraine.
France, like Luxembourg, is strongly opposed, concerned that it will
just turn the EU into a simple free trade zone.
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said: "The
fact that Turkey is joining means it is only a matter of time before
Ukraine becomes a candidate.
"There is no good reason for it not to join. The (commission policy)
opposing Ukraine is simply not credible, and France will have to
follow the majority view on this."
HOW UKRAINE MEASURES UP
The country's GDP was £2,800 per capita in 2003, compared with an EU
average of £14,900
Average life expectancy is 68 (78 within the EU)
Ukraine has one of the world's highest literacy rates: over 99.5 per
cent of the population over 15 rated as literate
Source: World Bank - World Development Indicators database
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