Ukraine president vows to organize NATO referendum

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Sept. 22 he will organize a national referendum on joining NATO after the necessary reforms are conducted. The Ukrainian public’s support for NATO membership was 16 percent before the EuroMaidan, which rose to 50 percent in 2014 and more than 60 percent currently, he said. “It’s very pleasant that the issue of a lack of support among the public has ceased to be an impediment to the prospects of membership,” Poroshenko told a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, which was attended by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. “And when we create all the conditions, as a result of the reforms for our country to conform to NATO membership criteria, I will decide to hold a national referendum and that way, the will of the people will be fixated.”

About 64 percent of Ukrainians would vote to support membership in NATO, according to a poll of 2,011 respondents conducted in July 22-27 by the Razumkov Center and Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Fund. Against NATO membership were 28.5 percent of respondents, the poll said. The result was so positive because turnout would be exceptionally high in those regions of Ukraine where NATO membership is most supported, the poll reported. When asked what is Ukraine’s best security option, 35.7% of respondents said joining NATO, while 28.8% opted for non-bloc status.

Zenon Zawada: We would chalk this up to Poroshenko’s other hollow, populist promises that have little grounding in reality. Firstly, the poll itself acknowledged its distortion, with 64 percent being an unrealistically high figure. Secondly, such a referendum would only provoke more Russian aggression and surely derail the Minsk accords, or any effort at conflict resolution. But most significantly, reforms are occurring at such a slow and inconsistent pace that we don’t expect them to meet NATO standards anytime in the next five years.