‘EU should come clean on Ukraine’

Date: 12/06/03

UKRAINE'S foreign minister this week argued it would be in the EU's interest to clarify whether it views his country as a potential member state.

While Anatoliy Zlenko said he was encouraged by "rather vague" statements by EU politicians that Kyiv should be given the possibility to join the Union, he alleged that "behind our back, other words were spoken - that Ukraine was too big for the EU and that by its dimensions, culture and history, it would not fit into the European Union".

Speaking to European Voice, Zlenko told of assurances from Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen that he does not harbour negative views about Ukraine. In September last year, Verheugen warned President Leonid Kuchma it was dangerous to debate Ukrainian membership of the EU now.

Privately, Ukrainian diplomats express disappointment that the European Commission has so far refused to accord it recognition as a market economy - an important step in its quest to join the World Trade Organization.

But Zlenko said he "understands" the Commission's request that Ukraine introduce new legislation on intellectual property and value added tax before the recognition sought can be granted.

Zlenko also sought to counter criticism Ukraine has received over the deaths of several of the country's journalists in suspicious circumstances. In November 2002, for example, Mikhailo Kolomiets was found hanging from a tree in Molodechno, across the border with neighbouring Belarus.

He was the founder of news agency Ukrainski Novyny, a frequent critic of Kuchma. The official police report that he committed suicide was rejected by many of his colleagues.

The EU should declare whether it believes Ukraine is a potential future EU Member State, according to the country's foreign minister Anatoliy Zlenko.