In 2011, Poland to give Ukraine a unique chance for the EU integration strengthening, says Kwasniewski

[see photos] The year 2011, when Poland presides in the EU, will become one of the milestones in Ukraine's integration into European Union. This has been stated by Aleksander Kwasniewski, the President of Poland in 1995-2005 and member of the Board of the Yalta European Strategy (YES), in the course of "Ukraine: Agenda 2020" discussion held on the Plenary Session of the 5th annual YES summit.

"Poland supports the UE expansion. No matter who is going to head the Polish government and who is going to be the President, Poland will stay an expansion's advocate. And this will be a unique chance for Ukraine since Poland will support intensification of Ukraine's integration into EU", he stressed.

At the same time, Kwasniewski mentioned that much in the Ukrainian EU integration process will depend on results of Presidential elections in 2010, as well as on the election campaign, which actually starts in the beginning of 2009.

Alexander Kwasniewski considers the difficult process of Lisbon treaty ratification to be the main obstacle in further EU expansion today. "There is a feeling of tiredness from expansion in the European Union. It is caused not only by the procedures themselves, but also by the social factor", he admitted. In his opinion, such a situation creates the threat of termination in European Union expansion.

YES Member of the Board sees the main task for EU in the fastest possible overcoming the institutional problems of the Union by means of Lisbon treaty ratification.

As an additional possibility for Ukraine in the context of European integration, Kwasniewski considers the EU "Eastern Policy", proposed by Poland and Sweden, and approved by the European Union; the policy is aimed at Ukraine and other countries of the Western Europe, which are not a part of the European Union. "We have to welcome this perspective on the social, as well as on the political level", the ex-President of Poland says.

As was informed, Yalta is hosting the the 5th annual summit of international Yalta European Strategy (YES) network, the greatest and the most influential non-governmental forum for Ukraine and European Union issues. More than 160 politicians, businessmen, public characters, diplomats and journalists from more than 20 countries of the world shall take part in the Summit. The Summit will continue working until July, 13. The Plenary Sessions will be traditionally held in Livadia Palace.

Among the participants of the 5th annual organization Summit are Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Mikheil Saakashvili, the President of Georgia; Marek Siwiec, Vice President of the European Parliament; Aleksander Kwasniewski, the President of Poland in 1995-2005; Mario David, Vice-President of European People's Party; Victor Chernomyrdin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Ukraine; key strategists of the leading USA political parties - Karl Rove, the republican, and Bob Shrum, the democrat.

Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair, the British politician and public leader, the Prime Minister of the Great Britain in 1997-2007, will be the special guest of the Summit to speak at Vision of Europe and Ukraine Plenary Session on July, 12.

The Ukrainian state at the Summit will be presented by Arseniy Yatseniuk, the Head of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; Raisa Bogatyrova, the Secretary of National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine; Vice Prime Minister on European and International Integration Grygoriy Nemyria.

Yalta European Strategy (YES) is an independent international organization, uniting the famous politicians, business and public opinion leaders, and journalists, with the aim of reforming Ukraine and provision of support to its entering the European Union. The organization was created by Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian businessman and public figure, in July, 2004.
Annual YES Summits in Yalta act as communication ground to discuss and develop political and economic strategies for Europe and Ukraine. Since the year 2004, William J. Clinton, the 42nd President of the USA; Gerhard Shroeder, the German Chancellor (1998-2005); Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of Poland (1995-2005), Victor Yushchenko, the President of Ukraine, and other personalities took part in Summits' work.
Besides annual summits, YES acts as initiator and organizer of public opinion surveys, forums and discussions on actual Ukraine-European Union relations issues, provides public opinion polls in EU countries concerning the European integration perspectives of Ukraine.