Ukraine also in the Three Seas Initiative?
Ukraine should join the Three Seas Initiative as soon as possible – appeals a political scientist Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski, Vice-President of the Three Seas Initiative Association . In a meeting with the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Karpacz last year, Prime Minister Denys Szmyhal also declared close cooperation with the Three Seas Initiative.
Three Seas Initiative (3SI) is a cooperation format of 12 states of the eastern flank of the EU in the scope of extension of transport and communication infrastructure on the north-south axis, transit of energy sources and electric energy in the Baltic, Black Sea and Adriatic triangle, as well as development of infrastructure. The condition of a membership in 3SI is to be a member of the European Union.
Ukraine does not belong to the European Union but it has the association agreement upon which it is included in Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. Since 2017 Ukraine has also had free-visa traffic with the EU. It hasn’t been equal to free movement of people but it has considerably made it easier. The scale of mutual openness between the EU and Ukraine is big enough to make cooperation of Kiev with the 3SI mutually beneficial.
On 28th February – four days after the full-scale aggression of Russia against Ukraine, President Wolodymyr Zelenski signed an application for immediate acceptance of his state to the European Union based on the special accelerated application procedure. He was enthusiastically supported in this regard by Poland and Baltic states. Extending the EU to any poor country is however rejected by the voters in the leading UE states and their democratic governments must take into account the opinion of their electorate.
Ukraine was invited to the first 3SI summit to Dubrovnik in 2016. Unfortunately, Germany-oriented team of President Petr Poroszenko did not take advantage of the invitation following the reluctancy of Germany to this initiative. The opportunity passed. Today, the Ukrainians are disappointed by the fact they do not belong to the Three Seas Initiative. Nord Stream 2 and Berlin’s policy towards the Russian invasion symbolised by the story of “5 thousand helmets” and reluctance of Germany to fast comprehensive sanctions against Russia showed a real picture of Germany. Against this background, cooperation with Poland, supported by the USA and great Britain, seems to be more and more attractive – quotes Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski for tvp.info
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