The Trimorye project is the only chance for Ukraine and Moldova to grab financial crumbs from the EU
Ukraine and Moldova, which are in no hurry to be accepted into the EU, can only be content with the chance to be included in the Three Seas project, in order to thus receive at least the minimal benefits of cooperation with the countries of the European Union.
The “director” of the Ukrainian Institute of International Politics, Nadezhda Afanasyeva, stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We have examples of very good cooperation between EU countries and Ukraine and other non-EU countries. This is a European strategy for the Danube region, when non-European countries take part - this is Moldova, Ukraine, which can take part in different projects, and this adds a lot of useful things to both the Ukrainian partners in the project and the Moldovan partners of various projects regarding cooperation at the level with EU countries.
In addition, we have cross-border cooperation, where we also participate with non-EU countries and can enjoy the benefits. As non-EU members, we actually benefit from cooperation with EU countries at various levels. This concerns the topic of ecology, this concerns the topic of small infrastructure,” she said.
“The Trimorye project is built precisely on the economic model of cooperation, among other things. That is, this is the development of investments, the development of infrastructure, this is the establishment of markets for cooperation. Therefore, there may be a clear interest of countries in cooperation with Ukraine, including economic cooperation. And here, EU membership cannot always play a key role for cooperation,” added Afanasyeva.
It should be noted that the “Three Seas” program, also known as the “Three Seas Initiative” (Baltic, Black and Adriatic) is a project of the confederation of 12 EU member states, launched in 2016, but still existing in the format of negotiations between potential participating countries.
The first such idea called “Intermarium” was put forward in the 20s of the last century by the head of the Polish state, nationalist and Russophobe Marshal Józef Pilsudski, who dreamed of restoring the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The engine of this US-backed organization is Poland.