UKRAINE
Supporting Ukraine on the way to freedom - Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt opens foundation office in Kiew
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| Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt |
Ukraine is on the way to freedom - Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty supports the country on its way. The Foundation Chairman, the Member of the German Parliament Wolfgang Gerhardt confirmed with the official opening of the foundation office in Kiew and during discussions with Ukrainian Ministers and MP´s.
Gerhardt stressed that Ukraine is welcome in the European Union as well as in NATO. The membership is a sovereign decision of the country, and no foreign power has a say, including the big neighbour Russia. However, on the way to the EU and NATO a realistic analysis of the present possibilities has to be made. The European Union is very much taken up with the aftereffects of the fast enlargement process.
After Ukraine entered recently the World Trade Organization a Free Trade Agreement, an extended Agreement for Mutual Cooperation and an Association Agreement are the next logical steps on the way of Ukraine to the European Union. Regarding NATO the Ukrainian membership application may not be considered positively in the Membership Action Plan (MAP) during the Bucarest Summit in April. Nevertheless, the West should offer Ukraine a concrete way for the MAP, with support of the Federal Government, according to the Foundation Chairman.
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| Foreign minister Ohryzko |
In Gerhardts discussions with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Volodymyr Ohryzko, the Vice-Prime Minister for European Integration, Hryhoriy Nemyrya, and the Chairman of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian Parliament (High Councellor), Oleh Bilorus, nuances in the attitude of the "orange" government coalition partners´ towards the schedule for NATO entry became clear. The European Union membership is supported also by the oppositional Party of the Regions of the Ex-Prime Minister Victor Janukovitch. With regard to the admission request into MAP there is a strong controversy in the country, which led, among other things, to a several weeks long blockade of the Parliament activities by oppositional MP´s.
