Top officials stress nuanced EU integration, causing scandal

Ukraine will avoid joining the EU customs union amid
an otherwise continuation of “maximum deepening of cooperation between Ukraine
and the EU in the customs sphere,” clarified in a Jan. 22 column Dmytro Kuleba,
the vice prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration. He wrote
his text after his comments to the same effect – at a Jan. 21 roundtable in
Ukraine – created a scandal, being misinterpreted by some as the Zelensky
administration slowing Ukraine’s EU integration process. In its preface to
Kuleba’s column, the eurointegration.com.ua news site stressed that the Poroshenko
administration’s 2017 decision to pursue EU customs union membership was
unanimously criticized by Ukraine’s expert community for posing large threats
to the economy. “The customs union now, and this very stage, is not even a
tactic, but simply a beautiful motto, behind which are serious threats to our
national advantages and interests. That’s why we are rejecting this idea,”
Kuleba wrote in his text.

It’s not correct for neighbors to pressure Ukraine to
engage in “the harmonization of legislation” with the EU, People’s Servant
Parliamentary Faction Head David Arakhamia told the Ukraine House Davos meeting
on Jan. 22. “Many neighboring countries are pressuring us, inclined towards the
so-called ‘harmonization of legislation’,” he said, as reported by the
pravda.com.ua news site. “However, I believe that this is incorrect for
Ukraine. If a weaker economy unites with a stronger one, then it will remain
weaker always, playing by the same rules. If we harmonize, then we can become
the weakest economy in the EU, something like Slovenia. Being a large state, we
will have very little influence since the rules of the game already exist.
These words can be unpopular in the European Parliament or anywhere else, but
we must occupy some unique place until we become stronger. And then we can
synchronize.”

Hours later, Arakhamia backtracked his comments, which
compounded the scandal created by Kuleba’s remarks. “I am for the EU
Association Agreement and the maximum integration with European neighbors. At the
same time, Ukraine’s interests should be priority number one for the Ukrainian
government. This is what I emphasized today in Davos in my speech. All EU
states defend their interests, just as Ukraine should defend its own,
integrating into the European Union. Everything else – lost in translation,” he
wrote in a Jan. 22 Facebook post.

Zenon Zawada: These
comments on the nuances of Ukraine’s EU integration weren’t phrased in the best
way, nor was the timing ideal, around the time of the World Economic Summit in
Davos. Although they are reasonable and widely supported in Ukraine’s
Euro-Atlantic community, headlines and quotes were taken out of context and
misinterpreted by various segments of the public. It reveals a lack of
coordination and strategizing by the Zelensky administration that is needed
with the nuances of Euro-Atlantic integration, particularly when the
government’s commitment to the West is being questioned daily by the
pro-Western opposition, led by former President Poroshenko.

We have no reason to doubt the Zelensky
administration’s commitment to fulfilling reasonable requirements for
Euro-Atlantic integration at a reasonable pace. What is most under doubt at
this moment is whether the Zelensky administration will allow Russian President
Putin to use the war in Donbas to undermine its Euro-Atlantic integration
efforts (and Ukrainian statehood altogether). In order to avoid this, the
Zelensky administration will have to convince the public that its policies will
produce prosperity in the short- to mid-term. We have doubts that it will
maintain the public’s confidence as well.