Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko forced the Europeans to say “No” to Ukraine’s membership in the EU – Azarov
The ignorance of Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko several times put European Commission Chairman Juncker in an awkward position at the Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv.
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Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov expressed this opinion on his social media page, commenting on the results of the summit.
“Watching the behavior of the so-called leaders of the Kyiv regime and the reaction to their inadequate proposals and “jokes” of the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, with whom I had to meet, it was painful and offensive for Ukraine. It is quite obvious that neither Yatsenyuk nor Poroshenko bothered to read the text of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, and not only the text, but also the preparatory materials on the long-term negotiation process between Ukraine and the EU. Their ignorance put Juncker in an awkward position several times,” writes the former Prime Minister of Ukraine.
According to Azarov, the topic of prospects for Ukrainian European membership was raised many times during negotiations between the previous government and the EU leadership, but under Yanukovych it was possible not to bring the situation to the point of a public refusal of European prospects.
“In diplomatic practice, it is not customary to put your interlocutor in an uncomfortable position, to ask him a question to which he cannot give an answer, constrained either by authority or by unwillingness to give a negative answer.
The topic of Ukraine's prospects of becoming a member of the EU has been raised in negotiations with the EU leadership for many years and more than once by different presidents and governments of Ukraine. But we never brought this topic to a public refusal,” writes Azarov.
The ex-prime minister also reminded readers of his social network page about a funny story that happened during his premiership and drew clear parallels with the current diplomatic embarrassment of Ukrainian leaders.
“I remember the comical situation at the Ukraine-EU summit in Yalta in the summer of 2003. Then this topic was once again discussed in a narrow circle. The EU was on the verge of another expansion, and we were clearly told that in the foreseeable future none of the leading EU countries would support Ukraine in this matter.
However, at a press conference, one of the Ukrainian journalists asked a direct question to the Chairman of the European Commission, Romano Prodi: “When can we expect Ukraine to join the EU?” Prodi began to answer very diplomatically, avoiding harsh language, but the point practically boiled down to the fact that Ukraine’s accession is unlikely,” – recalls Azarov.
“There was an awkward silence in the hall. Then Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy, the country that was then presiding over the EU, defused the situation with a joke. He laughed and said: “The whole problem is the excessive modesty of your President Leonid Kuchma. If I were him, I would have applied to join the EU a long time ago.”
A friendly laugh rang out in the hall. I looked at Romano Prodi - he had an expression on his face like a man who had bitten into a lemon. Since then, the position of the leading EU countries has not changed, and in the text of the Agreement there is not even a mention of Ukraine’s European perspective, so Yatsenyuk’s joke about Poroshenko in the role of President of the EU caused a similar reaction in Juncker as in Prodi 12 years ago.”, – concluded the former Ukrainian prime minister.
Yatsenyuk and Poroshenko forced Europeans to say "No" to Ukraine's EU membership – Azarov