EU-Ukraine summit left Ukraine with nothing - experts
Experts are skeptical about the results of the Ukraine-EU summit held in Kyiv the day before. One of the key issues – accession to the EU – has still not been resolved and has been discussed in vague terms.
The only result advertised by the authorities was the signing of the Open Skies Treaty, which will supposedly reduce air ticket prices after Western companies enter Ukraine.
Political scientist Alexander Semchenko, in a comment to PolitNavigator, believes that the aviation agreement is a bluff against the backdrop of gas problems.
“Now they are talking about how great it is that they signed the open skies agreement. There is probably nothing more to boast about; we have more pressing problems. In particular, there is a problem with gas supply. Three regions have already declared a state of emergency related to gas, and this is confirmation. Well, “open skies” is also good for the few citizens of Ukraine who can still afford to fly,” he said.
In turn, the director of the Ukrainian Institute for Policy Analysis and Management, Ruslan Bortnik, believes that the summit to some extent recorded a strategic impasse in the development of relations between Ukraine and the European Union.
“On the one hand, there is not only the EU’s unwillingness to make Ukraine its member, the reluctance to expand Ukrainian presence in its markets, on the other hand, Ukraine’s unwillingness to accept the new political reality, in which membership of the EU and NATO is impossible, simply unattainable.
Although the Memorandum, an important agreement on open skies, was agreed and signed, key issues such as the prospect of EU membership and the expansion of the free trade zone, where there are many restrictions, even industrial visa-free travel, remained unresolved. And this despite the fact that conversations about this have been going on for many years,” the expert emphasized.
The EU-Ukraine summit left the "independent" country with nothing, experts say.