EU must say a clear "YES!" to Ukraine - Kwasniewski

During a plenary session of the 4th Yalta European Strategy summit, the President of Poland in 1995-2005, YES Board member, Alexander Kwasniewski, said: "Ukraine has its own place in Europe, determined by its culture, history, traditions and democracy". I expect from EU a simple and very clear statement "Yes! We do need Ukraine!"."I am not sure of what number Ukraine will have in the list of states-members to the EU, but this is what European Union must say to Ukrainians and to help the government, the President and the people change the situation in Ukraine", he said.

"We need Ukraine as a future EU member. This is what we must strive for...I strongly believe that Ukraine will be an EU member. We will see the time when Ukraine is happy in the European Union. However, this is a difficult home assignment. A home assignment for Ukraine. Moreover, it is a home assignment for the European Union. Should we fail to make proper efforts we'll have no chance to accomplish the task".

He pointed out that a major pressing problem in Ukraine now is a permanent political crisis. "It has to be stopped. You cannot proceed when there is a lack of political will and vision. I am saying this as a best friend of Ukraine. We cannot tolerate the state of ever progressing
crisis. This is what I would like to say to the representatives of all political forces".

"Yalta European Strategy" (YES) is an independent organization, which brings together high-level policy-makers, business leaders, thinkers, researchers, and journalists in Ukraine and abroad to facilitate Ukraine's accession to EU. The annual YES summits in Yalta have become the leading informal high-level forum focused on discussing and development of political recommendations. In 2006, the YES experts developed an analytical document "Agenda-2020", representing a step-by-step strategy for Ukraine's accession to the European Union in 2020. YES organization was created by a Ukrainian businessman and public figure, Victor Pinchuk in 2004.