Ukrainian opposition wouldn’t sign 'suicidal' EU agreement

Even if the Ukrainian opposition comes to power, it wouldn’t be ready to sign a free-trade agreement with the EU if it studies the possible results of this, Mateusz Piskorski, Director of the European Centre of Geopolitical Analysis, told RT.

RT:Ukraine is a divided country, with the West ardently supporting European integration and the East historically more pro-Russian. Do you think the opposition intends to have some kind of dialogue with the easterners?

Mateusz Piskorski: I guess, first and foremost, all the protests that we can now see in the central squares and streets of Kiev are protests that have been raised or supported by some external factors and actors of the Ukrainian political scene. First, we see a huge professionalism of those who have organized the protests, because before the protests we heard about the activities of several embassies and NGOs financed and supported by different foreign countries. So we see this kind of pressure exerted by the external forces for the Ukrainian government to think once again about which geopolitical and geo-economic choice would be right and better for Ukraine. We can, of course, see the protests organized by the other side, by the Ukrainian Communist Party, by some members of the Party of Regions, which are in the eastern and southern towns of Ukraine. Unfortunately, in Europe and the United States we only see what is happening now in Kiev, but we cannot see the reaction of the other parts of Ukraine.

RT:We've seen Polish politicians were cheering protesters. European politicians taking part in anti-government protests in another country - is that commonplace?

MP: First, I don’t know if those politicians from Poland had the right to speak on behalf of Poland and on behalf of the Polish authorities, because as far as I know, neither the president nor the prime minister have entitled them to speak and voice the Polish official opinion about the events in Kiev. Second, I don’t know if Mr. Protasiewicz had a right to speak on behalf of the European parliament because as I know the European Parliament hasn’t voted for any one-side resolution that would be in support of those protesting now on the Square of Independence. So I think this is rather a kind of private or individual initiative of some of the Polish politicians. We also know that the leader of the biggest opposition party from Poland, Mr. Kaczynski, the leader of the Law and Justice Party, has also visited Kiev. I think they are trying to get some more political attention in Poland, for Polish public opinion, rather than to earn some points on the international arena. I wouldn’t really seriously worry about their speeches, but of course their speeches are at least intolerable if we look at the point of view of the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Mr. Protasiewicz is a Deputy speaker of the European parliament and he hasn’t had the right to voice the opinion of the whole European Parliament.

RT:Should the opposition succeed in overthrowing the government in Ukraine? Do you think the EU want to associate with such a turbulent nation as Ukraine?

MP: I think for the moment being any kind of association and signing a deeper and more comprehensive fair trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine would be a kind of economic suicide for Ukrainian side. If we look at the things which have happened during the last few months, I mean during the economic conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it was a clear proof that Ukraine’s economy is very closely connected to Russia. These are the ties that have remained from the Soviet times; we perfectly know that Ukraine is a part of the post-soviet economic area which is now integrating into the Eurasian bloc. We can tell only that the EU is not capable of compensating all the financial losses that Ukraine would encounter in case of closer cooperation with the EU. I guess that even the opposition, if it comes to power in the coming months, wouldn’t be ready to sign free trade agreement with Europe if it studies the possible results of such an agreement, as well as of the association agreement. This pro-European rhetoric aims at causing internal crisis and early elections, perhaps next year.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.